Pokemon Union
by KawmaKarma
Summary: A grand, original journey through the Leazon Region, a large collection of islands filled with People and Pokemon alike! A pair of twins begin their quests to conquer the League, but is this really a normal adventure? Not all is as it seems, and big changes may be coming to the world of Pokemon...
1. Chapter 1: Welcome to Leazon

**Chapter 1: Welcome To Leazon**

The Leazon region, a vast region composed of many separate islands both large and small. Leazon is a heavily populated land with both humans and Pokemon calling it home; plenty of cities, towns, and even small villages scattered across its many islands. In the world of Pokemon, many regions were also home to something called a Pokemon League, a challenge for those who would call themselves trainers. The premise was simple; beat eight gyms, specially designed buildings scattered across the region focused on specific types or gimmicks. After that, you qualify to take on Victory Road, one last gauntlet before reaching the league headquarters itself. And THEN once you reach that...

"Travis, are you done yet? I've been reading this email over for like an hour." Gladys sighed boredly. She closed the email that she and her brother had received from the League association yesterday since they had simultaneously registered to be trainers. "Honestly, you shoulda just let mom pack for you." she joked as she typed at her computer. A few of her friends were on! Guess she should brag while she waits.

Gladys and Travis were residents of Pemolo Town. A relatively peaceful town in the middle of lower Leazon. Despite its small town and quiet atmosphere it was actually a very important piece of the region. Because of its placement in the very center of the lower of the two main islands, it had a lot of traffic going through it, and thus many restaurants, stores, and inns along its multitude of roads. One of said inns belonged to their parents.

As stated before, Gladys and Travis were both beginning their journeys and official careers as Pokemon trainers. At the same time, in fact! For the two would-be trainers were actually twins. It was because of this that not only did they agree to register at the same time, but also set out for their adventure at the same time too. The Professor even agreed to take them both at once.

Although now that Gladys was just sitting around waiting, she was half-heartedly regretting the decision. She was much more passionate (read: impatient) than her brother was, always so punctual and thorough.

"Almost, Gladys, just wait. The Professor isn't even expecting us for another hour." Travis chided, holding up his sketchbook before slipping it into his bag. "Let's see... some extra pencils... can't forget the tablet." he muttered to himself as he slipped the small device into a separate pocket in his bag for EXTRA extra safekeeping.

"You gonna bring that thing too? Mom'll be upset if ya don't bring it and keep up your practice." Gladys giggled as she continued typing away, telling aaaall her friends about her trip.

"Oh, I almost forgot about it, thanks!" Travis rushed to his bed, pulling out the small case and sliding it into his bag as well.

"...Ugh." she cleared her throat, hiding a laugh. If you asked Gladys, she'd tell you her brother's kind of a dork. But one of those cool dorks, she'd clarify! Sure he played an instrument no one ever heard of, but he played it pretty good!

"...Oh hey, check out this funny video Katie sent me!" Gladys waved at her brother.

"Kind of busy." Travis sighed, folding his (other) spare shirt. "Cellphone, check. Glasses case, check. Now just need to get the food..."

"Come on, it'll only be a sec! It's funny!" Gladys turned to her brother, giving a bit of a pout.

Travis stared at his sister, before giving a sigh. "Fine, what did Katie send?" he asked, going to Gladys' side and looking over her shoulder. Gladys grinned up at him before replaying the video.

The most immediately obvious thing to Travis was the Pokemon, a Jigglypuff sitting on a stump surrounded by several other Pokemon. It was singing, and quite badly at that. Enough to make the Pokemon surrounding it wince visibly.

Suddenly however, a Wigglytuff jumps in and kicks the Jigglypuff off 'stage', saying something that Travis could only imagine is about its 'talent'. The surrounding Pokemon are left dumbfounded before the short video ends.

"...Well, I guess that was kind of funny. What, uh, was that exactly?" Travis rose an eyebrow, looking at Gladys for answers.

"It's part of this web series called Odd Adventures. See that Oddish there?" she put the video back to a random point in the middle, pointing to the blue-green grass-type sitting with its back to the camera. "That's the main character! It's a bunch of short clips showing off a ton of different Pokemon and silly cute stuff!"

"...Right." Travis crossed his arms, straightening up. "I'm gonna go prepare the snacks for the road."

"What, it's funny!" Gladys complained. "Let me show you one of the earlier episodes." she offered, but her brother had already left.

Travis sliced the cuts of sandwiches, preparing a handful for the road. He had already plotted the first and probably best destination, of course. He didn't know how long it would take to get there but estimated that a few days would be enough, especially since he'd just be coming back home afterward.

"Oh, Travis dear, you getting ready to go?" a tender voice spoke, Travis turning to see his mom. "Sigh... are you sure you wouldn't want to stay with us instead?" the woman asked, of course not really meaning it.

"Erh... yeah, mom. Sorry, but you know how we've been looking forward to this. I'll still call and visit though!" Travis defended himself, rubbing his head.

The mother of two frowned a little, before giving a defeated sigh. "Yes yes, I understand. Staying cooped up at the inn isn't much fun for either of you. Just make sure you take care of your sister."

"Y-yeah, mom, of course..." Travis gave a confident nod.

"Oh, and Travis, sweetie?"

"Yeah?"

"At the very least, you could have let me prepare the food for you! Goodness, child, trying to do everything on your own! You may be starting your adventure, but you need to tone down all that independence!"

Travis went a little red, hiding his face in his scarf. "Sorry mom. I just want everything to be perfect for today..."

The older woman gave another wistful sigh. "Fine, fine. Listen, it's about time you go over to the Professor's lab, isn't it? Why don't you get your bag and sister and start going. Once you get everything, come back and I'll have some REAL travel food before you set off. I have a few more things to give you anyway."

Travis frowned. "Are you sure, mom? Isn't it busy at the inn? I mean, I can-"

"Travis, the time." His mom very quickly pointed to the digital clock on the counter.

"...It's 12:50 already!? W-we're supposed to be there in 10 minutes!" Travis went wide-eyed in shock, giving his mother a kiss on the cheek before rushing upstairs, calling for Gladys.

The elder watched her son run off, giving another sigh. "At least they have each other."

Upstairs Gladys was in the middle of packing up her laptop, the very last thing she needed to. She hefted her bag over her shoulder and brushed her hair down, looking at the mirror and admiring her look. "Totally ready." she gave a confident nod before Travis bumped passed her and grabbed at his bag. "Oh, hey Travis, I was just about to go. Did ya bring my snacks?"

"Mom's making them." he said quickly, tugging the strap of his own bag over his shoulder. "Come on come on, the Professor's waiting!" he pushed his sister towards the stairs.

"Uh, yeah, I know." she rolled her eyes as Travis practically forced her down the stairs and out the door. "I was waiting on you this whole time." she turned her head and called out, "Mooom, we're going! Bye!" before they left.

Finally, their journey would officially begin.

* * *

The two stood in front of the wide building that was the Pokemon Lab, situated near the northeast corner of Pemolo Town. Quite the imposing building, but of course it was fitting due to all the important work done there.

Pokemon Professors are, obviously, those who are experts on Pokemon, although that explanation was particularly vague. To be specific, they worked as researchers who tended to study a specific field or topic on Pokemon and due to their work happened to be officially acknowledged by National Associations and, as a result of this, are given the express permission and responsibility for distributing Pokemon, licenses, and anything else needed to aspiring new trainers in their area (after giving them a look over and approving their applications). Overall, to reach the title of "Pokemon Professor" was to reach the pinnacle of recognition in your field.

Leazon had its own Professor, and luckily for the twins she happened to reside right in their hometown. This Professor was known as Professor Spruce, and she was the one they were supposed to meet today.

Gladys checked her phone, noting the time. "Well since you made us actually run over here, looks like we're right on time."

"Good! We have to make a good first impression!" Travis adjusted his glasses before smoothing out his vest, taking a few deep breaths to steady his nerves before turning to his sister with the best look of confidence he could muster. "How do I look?"

"Trying too hard." Gladys noted, snickering. "Honestly, it's not like we haven't met the Professor before. She knows us! Just don't go in and say something stupid like 'I hate Pokemon!' or 'I changed my mind!' and things will be fine."

"Eheh... Yeah, I guess you're right." Travis scratched his head a little in embarrassment, his posture relaxing considerably as he watched Gladys approach the building first before quickly following and keeping pace at her side, the doors opening on their own as the two entered the lab.

The interior had a calmer atmosphere than what most would call a 'lab' however. The lobby itself was adorned with various plants along the corners and photographs of Pokemon on the walls. The twins stepped in and took in the scenery, both showing equal amounts of excitement over what was to come.

"Ah, there you two are, I was just coming out to wait for you." a voice alerted them to turn their attention to a doorway, a brown haired middle-aged woman standing there to greet them. She was dressed in 'traditional' lab attire; a simple white coat over more casual clothes, with her hair in a bun.

""Professor!"" the twins said in unison as the researcher approached with a smile.

"Mmhm, hello, Travis," she nodded towards the boy, "Gladys." she turned and nodded to the girl. "It's good to see both of you. And how are you two?"

"Pretty good!" Gladys grinned. "Pumped up!"

"Me too." Travis let out a nervous chuckle. "Today's the day after all."

"Indeed it is!" the Professor chuckled. "I shouldn't keep you. I'm sure you'll both be jumping right into your adventures, after all." she motioned towards the doorway she came from. "Come with me, then."

The two smiled to each other, following the Professor as she began to walk. The corridor was short, having a few open spaces on either side. The contents of this corridor seemed to be the main 'labs' if the walls of equipment, computers, and other researchers walking around was any indication. Further along however opened up to a particularly wide room that seemed to be more like a play area than a place of research. Of course here it was both.

"As you two know, I am a Professor, officially recognized by the National Pokemon Association." Spruce smiled towards the open room where a variety of Pokemon were socializing. "This ultimately means I have two jobs, do you know what they are?"

"Yes ma'am!" Travis began excitedly, causing both eyes to look to him, "You research Pokemon Natures and how they affect a Pokemon's being and interactions with others!"

The other two looked at each other, before Gladys began to giggle and the Professor smiled towards Travis. "My, indeed. Someone did their research."

"Eheh." Travis began to blush, rubbing his head. "Well, no, it's not like I was preparing for today, I just happened to like your work. I read your books and they were really thought-provoking-"

"AHEM." Gladys cleared her throat loudly. "Aaanyway." she began, "your second job is to help those who want to become trainers, right? They register and then the Professor has to look at their profile and see if they got what it takes to raise Pokemon themselves and go out on their own and stuff."

"Goodness, you two!" the Professor chuckled. "At this rate you'll give my speech for me." she smiled towards the twins who both sported wide grins. "Yes yes, correct again. Now, normally I would do my second job and that's that. Since you two don't have Pokemon of your own, I'll be giving one to each of you." the two looked at each other excitedly before turning back to the speaking woman. She nodded. "However, this is a bit different. Usually my first job doesn't tend to get involved with the second, but because I know both of you personally, I'd like to ask a special favor."

"A favor?" Gladys asked, raising an eyebrow. "What, like, an errand?"

"Indeed, Gladys!" Spruce nodded, motioning the twins to follow as she began walking the two back down the corridor to a different room, one much more appropriate for a 'lab'. "I'd like to ask you both to assist in my research, simply put."

"It'd be an honor!" Travis exclaimed, "But, what would we do exactly?" it was his turn to question.

"Well, to put it best, I have two requests for the both of you. And don't worry, this of course won't get too much in the way of your own journies, hopefully. In fact, I'd like to believe that it will enhance your adventures throughout the region of Leazon." she stopped at a table, picking up two matching devices. They were both red in coloration, and reminded Travis a bit of his own tablet. "These are Pokedexes; Encyclopedias and a sort of database for all the Pokemon you may encounter in this world."

As she said this, she handed one to each youth, both of them looking the tablets over and turning them on. "I've already registered both of them to you two. I'd like you to take these with you." she chuckled. "And I'd also like for you both to use them."

"Use them? Like, actually write entries in?" Gladys asked as she went through the many empty 'pages' of the Pokedex.

"Are you sure about that, Professor? I mean, it seems like a big responsibility, and it's not like we'll know much about the Pokemon when we write..." Travis added, sharing his sister's doubts.

"Oh, don't worry about that." Spruce chuckled. "You see, these handy little things will scan and keep track of the different species of Pokemon you find all throughout the region. The task I have for you both is simply to encounter as many different Pokemon as you can on your journey." she nodded. "Apart from their natures, it's also important to us to see just what Pokemon live on this region with us. Leazon is a big place, after all, so an official record is important."

"Ah." Travis nodded, looking down at the pokedex. "So rather than write new entries, you want us to just see what entries are relevant to Leazon?"

"Indeed. And as well as that... for my own research, I would also like you to catch as many Pokemon as you can." Spruce continued. "A larger amount of Pokemon to study personally would greatly help my research. Of course, I won't hoard your Pokemon, so don't worry about that. I just ask that you allow me to get a look at those you aren't using so I can obtain an even bigger sampling of Pokemon."

The two twins looked to each other, before simultaneously nodding in understanding.

It was a reasonable enough request, especially since they were being given something as useful as a functioning, easy to use encyclopedia on anything they might find. And the thing about 'logging all the different Pokemon'... well, they were planning on exploring the whole region anyway, so it didn't really change anything! Except perhaps how much they planned on spending on Pokeballs.

"Alright, professor, we can do that!" Travis said confidently, his sister nodding in agreement.

"I'm happy to hear that, you two. Now, as for my other request, this one is perhaps a bit trickier." Spruce began. "As you are aware, usually unless there is a shortage I would prepare a selection of Pokemon for you to pick to be your first one, however, on my assumption that you would indeed decide to help me with my research, I pre-picked both of your Pokemon. Of course, this is entirely up to the two of you."

"You picked our Pokemon for us?" Gladys questioned. "How would that help your research?"

"Do you want us to study those specifically?" Travis added.

"Yes indeed, Travis. But to answer Gladys' question." she addressed the girl. "What Travis said is correct, I do research Pokemon Natures, but another field I expert in that is a bit less forward is variances between Pokemon. Specifically, members of the same species."

""Variances?"" the twins repeated questioningly.

"Quite. From behavior, personality, and "Nature", to physical attributes such as size and coloration." she explained. "Pokemon are like humans. Each one is unique in their own way. I'd like to look at that more closely, to put it simply."

"Aah... I get it!" Gladys nodded understandingly. "So from what you said... you picked out both of our Pokemon cuz you want us to have the same one, but you want us to look at them and tell you how they're different?"

Professor Spruce chuckled. "Indeed. Goodness, you two are quite clever. Perhaps I should have asked you to be my assistants sooner."

"Well, if Gladys is fine with it, then so am I." the boy nodded to his sister, who gave a nod back (along with a playful shove). "We'll take the Pokemon you chose for us, Professor!" he spoke.

"Excellent! Well then, let's not keep you two waiting any longer, I've kept you here for enough. First, here are your Trainer IDs, printed out and ready for both of you." she handed the two cards to the corresponding twins who eagerly grabbed them and looked them over as she wandered to a console and began to type. "Congratulations Gladys, Travis. You two are officially identified Pokemon Trainers."

She smiled towards the two as a small shelf with a glass dome over it slid out from a nearby machine, two Pokeballs sitting within the opening case. "But of course, what are two trainers without a Pokemon of their own?"

 **-End of Chapter 1-**


	2. Chapter 2: Twins

**CHAPTER 2: Twins**

Travis and Gladys were both practically about to bounce all over the place as the Professor pulled the two Pokeballs out of the container, their red-white colors shining in the bright lights of the building. Or perhaps that was just them over romanticizing what the otherwise normal looking Pokeballs looked like in the heat of the moment.

Of course, these Pokeballs were not normal; they held within them Pokemon. Their new Pokemon, and not to mention their _first_ Pokemon!

The Professor simply smiled knowingly at both of their expressions. Of course, this was nothing new to her, when it came to giving trainers their first Pokemon. That didn't mean it ever got old, however. This was perhaps the most rewarding part of the process, when aspiring trainers could truly begin, and her having a direct role and seeing their very first steps for herself.

Regardless, rather than have the two twins possibly explode from excitement, Professor Spruce figured she should have them on their way already. "Well then, this one is for you Travis," she said as she gave the boy one of the Pokeballs, laughing a little as he grasped the Pokeball tightly and stared down at it in complete, innocent amazement. She then turned to the girl, "And here you go, Gladys," the middle-aged woman nodded towards the girl as she grabbed her own Pokeball and grinned wide. After a second, she stepped back, closing the compartment that had held the two Pokeballs and then turning around back to the two, who were still simply standing there, glancing from their Pokeballs, to her, to each other, and then back to the Pokeballs.

"...Go ahead you two." Spruce urged, "I know you want to see what's inside." She waved a hand towards a relatively free-of-clutter part of the room, which the two kids immediately ran to, the Professor following after shortly. "Do you know how to call them out?"

The two twins looked to the Professor, giving a nod before looking at each other with wide grins and holding the Pokeballs out, pressing the release mechanisms. Red beams shot outwards from both of their Pokeballs, the red light materializing into two similarly shaped and sized silhouettes, a foot tall and bipedal, with large heads and short fluffy tails.

They took on a grey color aside from their ears and paws which were a more creamy white. Round purple eyes came into vision as the two Pokemon were summoned, two small, feline, furry Pokemon that looked near identical.

"Wow, what is this Pokemon?" Travis knelt down to the one his Pokeball had summoned, pulling out his Pokedex with one hand as he reached out to the cat Pokemon with the other, said Pokemon taking his hand with its paws. The boy gently moved his hand around in the Pokemon's grip as the feline stared at him in curiosity.

"I don't know, but it's so _cute_!" Gladys giggled as she dropped down and began petting her own Pokemon, her smile growing even wider as the Pokemon leaned into her touches, giving a happy little cry as she continued petting it. "Hey little guy! I'm your new trainer!" she grinned as the Pokemon smiled up at her, giving what she could only imagine was a cry of acknowledgement.

"Hmmm... so these are Espurr." Travis read off the Pokedex, looking over his own Espurr as it took to resting its head in his open palm. "Mine's a female one, yours is male." he commented as he let the Pokedex scan the two. There wasn't much info on the Espurr entry yet, he noted, aside from the statistical facts such as their levels and typing. Before putting the Pokedex away, Travis made sure to mark Espurr as 'Caught'. This revealed several entries under the Espurr page, along with more exact details about things like height and weight and diet, the boy mentally noting to take some time to read through them.

"Espurr, huh? Well hello Espurr! It's great to meet you!" Gladys smiled as she picked up the feline, his little paws wiggling in the air a little, although he didn't seem bothered by the action. "We're gonna be adventuring together, so let's get along, hehe!" she grinned proudly as she hugged the Espurr, rubbing his head and further mussing up its fur.

"Purr" the Espurr seemed to agree as he shut his eyes, ears giving a slight twitch as the Pokemon silently enjoyed all this attention. The young feline was certainly excited at the prospect of going along on an 'adventure', even if he didn't really understand what it entailed.

Travis chuckled at his sister's antics as he gently scritched his own Espurr's cheek. "Let's take care of each other from now on, Espurr," he commented silently, brushing the Pokemon's fur a little with his other hand. "I look forward to battling with you."

Travis' Espurr lazily looked up at the trainer in acknowledgement of what he was saying, giving a nod as it approached him and hugged his leg. The boy adjusted his glasses and stood up. "We'll take good care of these Pokemon, Professor!"

Professor Spruce nodded, crossing her arms. "I believe you will" she said sincerely. "These two are brother and sister. I thought it only appropriate," she chuckled, "Please cherish them for your entire journey, as I am sure they will cherish you."

""We will, Professor,"" the two said in unison, each twin carrying their respective Espurrs in their arms.

"Wonderful," the Professor clapped. "Well, don't let me keep you. And remember, catch many Pokemon!"

After bidding their farewells to the Professor, Travis and Gladys are escorted to the lab entrance, stepping outside. By this point in time, it is around mid-afternoon. The sun hung above them as various people were out and about.

"We're gonna be unbeatable, Jam, just you wait. I'm gonna catch you lots of friends and make you the toughest Espurr out there!" Gladys grinned eagerly as she walked in step with her brother, tickling her Espurr's nose.

"Es!" The Pokemon called in response, wiggling in Gladys' grasp, although the smile on his face made it clear that he was definitely enjoying the attention even as he batted at Gladys' hand with his paws.

"You named him Jam?" Travis rose an eyebrow towards his sister as he held his own Espurr in his arms. After Gladys nodded towards him, he couldn't help but ask, "Why Jam, exactly?"

"Look at his cute purple eyes!" The girl grinned proudly as she held the Pokemon outwards to Travis, the other Espurr looking up at his trainer's twin curiously.

"Es?" Jam said simply towards Travis, who just shook his head.

"See? Totally a Jam." Gladys said simply.

Travis looked at the girl, unimpressed. He gave 'Jam' a pat on the head as his own Espurr waved at the other. "Right, Jam it is."

"Well, what'd you name her, then, Mister Name Rater?" Gladys stuck her tongue out, hugging Jam again as they continued walking.

"Ella. Simple, yet cute and elegant." Travis smiled down at his Espurr, who gave a pleased look up at him. She seemed to like the name, too. Especially when he described his reasoning behind it. "And she agrees."

"Hmph, Jam loves his name, right Jam?"

"Purr." The Espurr blinked up at Gladys with his wide purple eyes.

"Yep, loves it~" she giggled, causing Travis to roll his eyes. "Anyway, what do we do now?"

"Well, mom probably has our travel snacks ready for the trip to Ricota." Travis said thoughtfully, before looking down at Ella. "She'd probably want to see our Pokemon and hear about that whole assisting the Professor thing, too," he pointed out.

"Yeah, I guess. Alright, to the house." Gladys huffed a little. "Man, I was hoping to just get right into it, but things just keep getting in the way."

"Heh, I see what you mean, but you shouldn't be in too much of a hurry, you know," he chided. "Still need to prepare."

"Yeah yeah yeah" Gladys whined. "Let's just go talk to mom."

The small group of twins arrived back home after a couple minutes more of walking. They had just approached the door when it opened before they could even reach for the knob. Sure enough, the mother of the human twins was at the door, smiling eagerly to the two. "Well look at you two, Pokemon Trainers," she gave a small sniff as she pulled all 4 of them into a hug. "You both look wiser already, and you've only been gone for less than an hour."

"Urgh... come on, Mom" Gladys wiggled in her mother's embrace, pulling Jam out from getting smushed in the familial pile. "We're gonna end up coming back through anyway."

"Yeah, it's not like we'll be gone for long." Travis laughed a little. "Just a few days in Ricota City and then we'll come back."

"Oh, but then you'll just be off travelling all over Leazon for real," their mother gave a fake sniffle as she let them go, stepping inside to let the twins in, "leaving me and your father all alone for who knows how long!"

"Geez, mom..." Gladys rubbed her head, letting Jam hop down onto a counter. "Tone down the drama a little. You're almost making me think you don't want us to go." she crossed her arms as Travis laughed.

"Fine, fine," the woman relented, before smiling. "Are you two ever planning on introducing me?" She waited, the twins looking at each other obliviously. She rolled her eyes, hands moving to her hips, "Honestly now. Did you both forget to show your own mother and favorite person in the world your new little Pokemon?" She laughed, bending down slightly to examine the Espurr on the counter.

"Espurr" the psychic type blinked at the older woman who bared a moderate resemblance to his own trainer. Obviously the mother, he quickly deduced, which certainly had nothing to do with how many times 'Mom' was said in the last few minutes.

"This is Jam! He's an Espurr. And an awesome one at that!" Gladys explained confidently, said Espurr turning towards her and then nodding towards the older woman with a look of confidence of his own.

"And this one is Ella, my own companion." Travis pat his Espurr on the head, causing her to purr. "I think mine is pretty 'awesome' too" Travis smiled.

Ella rose her head proudly at that, shutting her eyes and leaning into Travis' hand. "Purr." The Pokemon said in agreement, certainly not one to be outdone.

"Well aren't these two precious. I'm amazed you both ended up picking the same Pokemon, though."

"Well, actually..." Travis began. He proceeded to explain the Professor's request. He explained how they were helping her with the Pokedex, along with what the Pokedex even was. He then went on to tell her about how they were supposed to be examining the Espurrs as part of her research, which was why they both got one.

"Hmm... well now, you two certainly have a lot on your plate," their mother surmised. "It's very nice of both of you to help the Professor like that." She smiled as the two twins grinned at each other. "Well, I have your snacks for the trip to Ricota City ready. Oh, and I have a few things for both of you, too! Just sit right there, please," she instructed before heading upstairs.

Travis sat on the couch with Ella in his lap, the Pokemon relaxing along with him as he waited patiently. Gladys leaned against the kitchen counter, giggling as Jam seemed to be looking around with quite a bit of interest in his round purple eyes. "Let's see... if we don't let anything distract us, it should take us a day to get to Rikota City. The gym there is Fighting type," he glanced down to Ella. "Which means we'll already have a bit of an advantage, lucky for us." He laughed, petting the Espurr.

"Alright, we'll be rolling through these gyms like nothing!" Gladys grinned. "Can't wait!"

"Well, there's still doing the fieldwork for the Professor, so we'll probably be spending a bit more time in route 1 regardless."

"Baah, we can do that on the way back, I'm not putting off getting that first badge to mess with this Pokedex thing." She stated firmly, crossing her arms. An action that her Espurr saw and then mimicked with his own tiny paws.

Travis sighed, before adjusting his glasses. "I can see where you're coming from, but we should take the opportunity to train anyway. Even with a type advantage, a gym battle is still a gym battle."

Gladys went silent at that, before looking towards Jam. "...True. And I guess having more than one Pokemon would be pretty good too," she giggled as she poked at the Espurr's belly, causing it to wiggle its paws in mild distress. "Even if my Pokemon is already so cool!"

They continued to discuss plans until their mother entered the room again. "Right then, here you go, Gladys!" she said proudly, handing the girl a small rectangular object. Upon identification, it was a camera. "I do know how you love to explore, so I thought you'd like something to save the memories."

Gladys blinked, before raising the camera up and grinning. "Oh, cool!" she turned towards her Espurr, turning the camera on. "Smile, Jam!"

"Es-?" the Pokemon questioned before a bright flash hit his eyes, causing him to blink and rub at his eyes for a moment, wondering what just happened. He noted not to look at that weird box thing again.

"Hehehe, nice~" Gladys smiled, putting the camera in her bag before turning around and hugging the woman. "Thanks mom!"

"You're welcome, dear." She gave the girl a peck on the forehead, causing her to recoil in embarrassment before she headed into the kitchen. "Now, I prepared you enough food to last you a few days. Make sure both you and your Pokemon eat and sleep well, yes? I know you're excited and all, but..." she continued on as she lifted out several wraps of sandwiches and other small foods.

"We got it, Mom." Travis nodded as he packed his food into the bag, Ella watching from her spot on the couch.

"Oh, and one more thing! I actually have a bit of a favor to ask of you, Travis," she began, gaining the attention of everyone in the room. "You remember that one charity group that came a few days ago, yes?"

Travis would indeed be more likely to remember faces from the inn, due to him working their part time much more frequently than Gladys did. "Hmm... Unity Foundation, you mean?"

"Yes. One of their members left something behind. They just called. They're in Ricota, and I was wondering if you could deliver it to them."

"Sure, mom." Travis nodded. The woman smiled, going over and grabbing a package which she promptly gave to Travis.

"Call me when you get to Ricota City, and I'll let them know to wait at the PokeMart. Sorry, but try not to dilly dally too much with this, okay sweetie?"

"Yeah, sweetie~" Gladys giggled, already heading for the door with Jam on her shoulder as Travis blushed and stuffed the package into his bag. "Come on, I wanna at least hit the road before it's dinner time."

"Right, right." Travis gave his mom a quick hug. "Bye, mom! I'll call soon!" he said in a hurry as he scooped Ella up and ran to the door. Their mother followed them, giving one last wave to the leaving twins before closing the door.

The walk to Route 1 was relatively short, all in the meantime the twins discussed what their plan was. "So it's agreed, yeah?" Gladys asked her twin.

"Yes. We're both taking on the Pokemon League." Travis nodded, adjusting his glasses. "We'll stick together until Sansapul, then go on our own and see who can get their badges first."

"Yep!" Gladys grinned, playfully bumping against Travis. "So you better enjoy my company, cuz I'm gonna leave you in the dust while I get my badges!"

Travis smirked, "Is that right? You shouldn't say that kind of thing, sis. You'll just jinx yourself," he laughed, his sister joining in as they arrived at the gates to town.

He took a deep breath as he looked outwards. Sure, this wouldn't be the first time he'd go down Route 1, but that didn't make it any less special. "Our adventure starts here."

"Yep! What are you waiting for?" Gladys smiled eagerly. "Come on!"

The two trainers looked to each other, then at their Pokemon. They nodded, then walked forward, taking their first official steps as Pokemon Trainers.

 **-End of Chapter 2-**

* * *

 **Side: Pa-1**

It was a cool evening as the construction workers were preparing to call it quits for the day. Many of them were grateful for a clear and uneventful day at work. Despite the use of Pokemon to do most of the heavy lifting, human workers were still needed and the work was no less tiring.

Payton wiped his forehead as he stuffed his things into his bag, rising in surprise as he felt something hit his back hard. "Good work out there, kid," one of the older workers smirked, lifting his hand off the young man's back.

"Thanks. See you next time." Payton gave a nod of acknowledgement as the man nodded and headed out of the site. He rubbed his shoulder a bit, a little sore from today's labor.

Payton was a junior student in high school. Unlike his peers from childhood, he wasn't particularly interested in Pokemon Training, more fond of staying close to home and his large family. Despite his rough and tough appearance, he was a rather soft and compassionate individual. Really, with his appearance, you wouldn't believe he was still a student upon first glance.

The young man worked out often, giving him quite a bit a muscle to go along with his large height. He even outmatched some of the other, older men at the construction site. He worked there part time, to save up some pocket money for whenever needed. Plus, he honestly enjoyed the labor, and talking to the other guys.

"So, Payton, you watch the last night's game?" the familiar voice of Oscar, one of Payton's fellow workers, asked. He was one of the younger men that worked alongside Payton, which explained why they tended to chat more often. "Pretty bad this time, right?"

"I wouldn't call it bad." Payton shrugged his shoulders, feeling a bit of a kink in his neck. "I guess it wasn't that exciting compared to last season."

"Yeah, it's a mess. I've been bored out of my skull watching TV this month." Oscar complained, snorting as he drank from a water bottle.

"Did you hear about what happened over in Velnor?" the two heard another construction worker say as they walked out of the site.

"Yeah. Heard the kid got rushed off all quiet like and they weren't lettin' anyone see 'em," the man he was talking to responded, crossing his arms. "Crazy. What even happened anyway? They're all quiet about it... probably somethin' big if they're keeping it under wraps like that," he grunted.

"Nah, my bro, he lives over there right? Got a good look at the kid an' everything! He was completely unrecognizable, get this..." the first speaker began whispering.

"What's that about?" Payton asked Oscar as they left the construction site, walking on the sidewalk.

"Well, the guys were talking, apparently some kid over in Velnor Town got attacked by some thugs or something. It was on the news but they didn't actually really say anything aside from that. Didn't even say who it was." Oscar shrugged. "Pretty suspicious."

Payton was silent, frowning. A kid getting attacked? That didn't sit very well with him. "Is the kid alright?"

"Yeah, they weren't hurt or anything, supposedly. They're just not letting them see anyone," the other man scratched his head. "Still, though, best to look out for any suspicious guys, you know? Velnor's pretty far, but sounds like it was a gang that did it or somethin'."

"A gang? What did they look like?" Payton asked, only to recieve a shrug from Oscar. "When did this even happen?"

"A few days back. Apparently pretty late at night, which is why there weren't many witnesses, yanno?" Oscar frowned thoughtfully. "Yanno, a lotta weird things have been happening around Leazon. One of the boys said that maybe it was all connected. Probably a li'l too crazy to think that, yeah?"

"You never know" the high schooler shrugged, stopping at the intersection. "I'm heading home."

"Ah, right. Sometimes I forget you're still a kid." Oscar snickered, getting a look from the large young man. "I'll be heading off this way. Meeting a couple of pals." the man gave a bit of a salute as he turned and headed his own way. "Remember what I said, Payton, pal, watch out for them suspicious folks!"

Payton watched Oscar walk off for a little while, before turning back to his own path, walking along the sidewalk with no one else around. It was a quiet walk, and a bit of a long one. His own home was a ways away from the site of his part time job, so he usually spent a good amount of time just walking down the road. He briefly considered maybe investing in a car, or even a bike, but really he didn't mind the walk, and it wasn't as if he'd use it much otherwise.

The colorfully clad woman tailed the young man, gripping the Device in her hand tightly as she stayed as silent as she could. Another target, and no one in sight after he split up from the other guy. The perfect hit to test the device on, she figured. She turned a dial on the Catalyst Device, the translucent fluid inside the container changing color as the small screen displayed several numbers.

She clicked a button on the side of her visor, data being fed from the Device to the screen over her eyes. She took a deep breath as she walked towards the young man. As amazing as the device was, its range was honestly very terrible, and so she unfortunately found herself having to be far far too sneaky and getting up close to potential vic-ahem, lucky candidates.

A few more steps, walking in pace behind this stranger. She lifted the Device, pointing it to the back of his head. Technically, she had to hit skin, but the Catalyst had a tendency to just eat through most fabrics anyway, so it didn't really matter where she hit, unless this random boy just happened to be wearing a specially crafted suit like she was.

After figuring she was close enough, her finger rested on the button. "Unification!" she called, pressing downwards. The Device whirred as Payton turned around in shock.

...

...

But the Device did not fire. She went wide-eyed as Payton stared at her in confusion. "Hey..." the young man began speaking. Th-this was not according to plan! Not at all! She began fiddling with the device, turning knobs and dials, data streaming all over her visor as her face went red.

"What are you up to? Who are you?" Payton glared at the woman. In the darkness of the evening, he couldn't get a good look at her, although she seemed to be wearing some odd super-hero-like outfit, shiny and colorful with pinks and blues all over, and a yellow emblem he just couldn't get a good look at. She was a little too old for cosplay, honestly.

The woman suddenly remembered the young man in front of her. The Device began to whirr again, signalling that it was working for real, hopefully. She had already been spotted, so she definitely couldn't let this one go, she decided in the heat of the moment. Without looking to see just what her settings on the Device was, she pointed it at him again, pressing the button.

A glob of purple suddenly launched towards Payton's face, and without thinking the young man rose his arm up, blocking the wet goop with his hand with a loud _splat!_ before he lowered his hand to look at the substance. It was a thick blob of some kind of weird slime, dripping and leaking down his hand.

He was so distracted by the goop that his assailant took the opportunity to start running away. Despite the mess-up, she had managed to hit her mark, so she just had to let the Catalyst do its part of the job now.

She'd never hear the end of this screw up from the higher ups.

Payton frowned, instinctively realizing that he should probably give chase, before his arm started to feel... odd. He looked at it, only to see a purple hand instead of his own tanned one, the goop gone- not gone, but travelling up his arm, approaching his torso.

Changing him.

It was a cool evening night. The one which, afterwards, the young man known as Payton Parr was never the same.

 **-End of Side Story-**


	3. Chapter 3G: Roller

**CHAPTER 3G: Roller**

 _With spirits high and nothing to stop them but their own will the two youthful twins headed off, away from the land they called home towards an unfamiliar new world. What awaits them at the start of their journey? What adventures were ready to spring upon them? The only way to find these answers would be to dive in. The more charismatic twin, she was confident, excited, the world was her playground, her proving ground, nothing would stop her on her quest. She had a goal, a mission, one that she'd see through to the end._

 _What was her mission? What was it that drove her to leave her safe little home behind and travel across the whole region? That was a simple question, with an even simpler answer, one that she herself could tell you in person._

 _She would conquer the Pokemon League, she would journey to the most dangerous of places all for the sake of adventure and enjoyment. Surely, there was no other reason as noble and straightforward as a simple desire to reach new horizons and be the best trainer she could be._

 _With a courageous heart and her spunky new partner whom she had already formed a connection with, she would achieve her goals._

"Hmm... is that right?" Gladys wondered, tapping her chin. She couldn't shake the feeling that this prose sounded a bit awkward. She'll have to work on it later. Narration wasn't an easy skill when it came to writing.

"Gladys..." a voice broke the girl's concentration, causing her to lift her head up from her tablet. The redhead looked over to the source of the voice, a boy who looked much like her. "While I appreciate your hobby, do you really have to narrate out loud?"

"Of course I do, bro!" The girl gave a mock, exaggerated gasp, reeling back with a hand to her mouth in horror. "If I don't, then I might end up writing a really awkward sentence without realizing! That's writing 101, GOSH!" She huffed, crossing her arms with a smirk.

"Es!" the Espurr on her shoulder made a noise. Gladys, of course, had no real way of knowing just what the cute little kitty Pokemon said, but she imagined he agreed with her anyway. The girl grinned and scratched Jam's chin.

"Right..." Travis gave an awkward, fake laugh before clearing his throat. "So, the more charismatic twin, huh?"

"Yep!"

"I'm plenty charismatic, I'd believe!"

"Sure, bro, sure."

The boy scoffed. "So then what am I?"

"Hmmmm..." Gladys lifted her head and tapped her chin. "Hmmm hmmm hmmm..." She hummed as she walked, stepping over a few rocks on the path with exaggerated swings of her legs. "Hmm! Oh, I know! You're the awkward twin~"

The look on Travis' face spoke volumes. Enough words to write an essay, really. Gladys grinned before breaking out into a laugh. "You're the smart and arty one. And I'm the spunky and brave one. We're a pair like that~ Like superheroes or something."

"Right." Her twin decided that that was probably a good place to end the conversation, it seemed, as he just went back to walking, gazing around.

Route 1 was a trail that lead from their home town of Pemolo to the neighboring city of Ricota, one of the many trails that lead out from the small town, and as can be determined from its name one of the primary routes in the region. It was a natural field and popular as a nature walk for its peaceful atmosphere and, of course, the flowers. Because of that it came to be known as a popular spot for picnics and _romantic outings~_ , not that Gladys was interested in that kind of thing.

She preferred more actiony books.

Regardless there were actually plenty of campsites scattered along the trail. If one wanted to look for Pokemon they'd probably have to leave the trail.

And so of course Travis insisted on leaving said trail to go catch some Pokemon. Not that Gladys put up much of a fight against doing so; it was only natural for a trainer to go catch Pokemon, that's why they were called _Pokemon Trainers_ , duh.

But as time went on and Gladys saw the Pokemon in Route 1 she realized something. An important detail that maybe was a little selfish of her to admit.

She didn't really LIKE any of the Pokemon here. Not enough to make part of her team, anyway. Call it personal preference. While she still added the Pokemon she saw to her Pokedex, she made little effort to really catch them. She wanted to save her Pokeballs for something special, something that really called out to her.

In the end she cheered Travis on as he caught his first Pokemon, and then his second, third, fourth, fifth, and sixth. Budew, Seedot, Lotad, Burmy, Surskit, and finally a Deerling.

"Great! Not bad for my first day on the job, huh?" Travis bragged.

"Yeah. You really knocked it out of the park, bro." Gladys yawned. An action mimicked by her Espurr. "So are we done yet?"

"We?" Travis snarked, before rolling his eyes. "You could have more fun if you joined in, you know."

"I'd rather catch stuff at my own pace. Didn't the Professor say not to let the whole pokedex thing distract us, anyway?" She shrugged. "Besides, I wanna save my Pokeballs for the really good stuff!"

"Save your... oh, crud!" Travis went wide-eyed as he looked into his bag. Yep, bingo. Gladys smirked as he finally realized what she had the moment he caught that Deerling.

He was completely out. Now if anything special really did show up, he'd have no choice but to let it go.

"Er... sis, can I-"

"No way. Like I said, I'm saving them!" She grinned in triumphant glee, hugging her little Espurr proudly. Travis could only grumble as he followed the girl back to the trail. It was getting late according to her trusty cell and Gladys wanted to make at least a bit more headway towards Ricota.

The sun had begun to set soon after. The view on the hill was caked in the orange light. Sunsets were always kinda pretty, but something about this being the first dusk of Gladys' adventure, the end of her first day, made it seem extra special.

But that also made it clear that this was, in fact, the end of the first day. They'd have to call it a night and get some rest eventually, no matter how much the girl wanted to just break into a run and get to Ricota ASAP. Well, she could, probably, she was a decent enough runner, but Travis would got mouthy and they promised they'd get there at the same time. Oh, the downsides of being such a thoughtful twin... The first day of their journey was drawing to a close, and so fast too. She blamed Travis for taking up so much time. Ugh!

"We should start getting things set up." Speak of the devil. Gladys couldn't help but groan; she loved her brother dearly, but he could really be the killjoy when he wants to be. "Don't give me that! It's better we get ready before it gets too dark!" He crossed his arms. What a nerd. But he was the nerd she had grown used to.

"No waaay." She huffed and puffed. "I want to keep moving! It feels like we barely made any progress at all!" The girl protested, causing her brother to sigh. "Especially since you spent, like, 10 hours hunting down more Pokemon!"

"You didn't complain before!" Travis pointed out. "And you could have joined in," he accused the girl. Well, true. She really kinda did spend most of her 'training' time writing and checking her blog and messages. "We made plenty of progress, Gladys. If we really wanted to, we could reach Ricota tomorrow." He reasoned. "Especially if we wake up early."

"Uuugh. I hate mornings." Gladys groaned. He had a point but there was still the facts!

Travis ignored her though, "And didn't YOU agree that we should take some time training instead of rushing to the gym? It's not going to move while we're out here."

Darn, her plans were foiled by logic. Gladys couldn't really beat that with her own strategy of whining until she got bored. She felt a fuzzy paw on her cheek and sighed, picking up Jam from her shoulder and addressing the little guy. "You don't want to go to sleep either, right li'l guy?"

The Espurr made little mewls in response as she wiggled his paws and rocked the tiny psychic in her arms.

"Hey, Gladys, look, there's someone over there!"

Gladys rose her head in confusion, looking to where Travis was pointing. She had to squint to make out the two shapes beyond, and no doubt about it there appeared to be two people off in the distance. "Oh, hey! Think they're trainers?" She grinned in excitement. Trainers could only mean one thing, obviously.

"Well, if they're out here in the middle of the evening..."

Gladys speed-walked towards the possible trainers. Two girls, one seemed to be about their age, maybe older, while the other was unquestionably a younger girl, 10 or so, maybe.

Gladys could detect that there was something between the two, though. The older vibrant green-haired girl seemed to be trying her best to ignore or get away from the small brown-haired one who hovered around and yapped at her senior, oblivious to her obvious annoyance.

She stopped walking, however, when she saw the twins. She blinked once before approaching perhaps a bit too eagerly, evidently happy to have other people to talk to than her tagalong. The smaller girl, for her part, quickly noticed that something was wrong before she looked towards Gladys and then ran after her older friend.

"Well now, I wasn't expecting to see more people out here at this hour." The older girl chuckled. Her voice had a slight accent to it. From the neighboring region, wasn't it? "Trainers, I assume?" she said, eyes darting between the two twins and their Pokemon.

"You got that right! We just started, hehe! How about you?" Gladys grinned proudly, a hand going up to the little Pokemon that seemed to have claimed her shoulder as a seat.

"Of course." The trainer gave an energetic smile, her green locks shining in the setting sun. "I could tell you two were new."

"Eeh? How so?" Gladys crossed her arms. Jam looked down at his trainer before mimicking the motion. He seemed to like doing that.

"You tend to pick up on how strong others are once you've been in the game for a while." The trainer said. "Victoria", she introduced herself, before giving a half-hearted motion towards the other girl, "the little one here is Lily."

"I'm not little!" The lass huffed. Sure, okay.

"Gladys! And the stick in the mud here is my bro Travis~" Gladys snickered, shaking hands with Victoria while she heard Travis grunt in annoyance behind her. He was fun to tease sometimes. Especially in front of pretty girls!

"So are you two heading to Pemolo?" Travis asked. This caused the trainer to pause and think to herself.

"Ah! Is that the name of the town this route is connected to? I suppose I am heading there. As for her..." Victoria glanced down at Lily, whose eyes quickly moved from her to the twins.

"Yep! I'm going there too!" She blurted out quickly. Victoria sighed.

"So why are you two travelling together?" Gladys grinned knowingly. She could feel Victoria groan inside as Lily puffed out her chest.

"Victoria's my teacher! She's gonna show me how to be an epic battler like she is! And then I'm gonna fight her!" Lily exclaimed proudly.

Victoria held back a grunt, a hand absentmindedly batting a lock of her long hair around. "I'm touring the region, myself. As trainers do. I was exploring this route for a while, quite a pretty walk." She laughed a bit in exhaustion, "This girl clinged to me back there, and I have yet to shake her, sadly."

"That's mean..." Lily huffed, pouting. Her expression quickly shifted as she went straight back to hopping. "So! So so so! What are you two up to, huh?"

"We're going to Ricota City to do our first gym battles!" Gladys said proudly.

"Ah, the gym there, right." Victoria nodded, before chuckling. "The leader was quite the character. I wonder if all the gym leaders in this region are as quirky."

Gladys saw Travis looking at her questioningly. She shrugged. Quite literally the only thing she knew about the Ricota Gym was that it focused on fighting types. Lucky for them.

"Victoriaaa! I know what you're doing!" Lily's voice demanded the attention of everyone, distracting Gladys from trying to picture just what kind of 'character' the gym leader was. "You totally just talked to these guys so you wouldn't have to answer me!"

As Victoria gave a defeated sigh, Travis spoke. "What's going on?"

"She's very much dedicated to battling me." Victoria shrugged, before staring at the twins. Slowly, a grin filled her face. "Alright, then." She turned to Lily. "Very well, you want to battle, then let us do so!"

Lily's eyes filled with stars. "BUT!" And those stars quickly fell. "Only if you can defeat these two!"

That certainly got Gladys attention. "Ohoho?~"

"Whaaaaaaaaaaat?" Lily pouted. "Why do I have to do that!?"

"These two look more on your level, so it'll be good practice before facing me." Victoria chuckled smugly. "Those are my terms, no changing it."

"I'm game for it! I haven't gotten a chance to really battle, myself!" Gladys smirked, balling her fists in excitement. Lily gave a groan in frustration and turned to look at the two. Her eyes focused on Travis, before looking over to Gladys with an odd glint.

"Fine! I'll fight you first!" Lily exclaimed, a hand already on her Pokeball. "1 on 1, let's go!"

"You're on!" Gladys laughed. Luckily, she only had one Pokemon anyway.

"Honestly... I guess we'll wait on the sidelines. Good luck, Gladys." Her twin gave her a nod of confidence, one that she returned before running off into position, facing opposite her short opponent.

"Alright Jam, now's your chance to shine! Win one for Team Gladys!" she cheered her little Espurr, the Pokemon giving an emphatic nod before hopping off of her shoulder and standing in front of his trainer. He had gotten a bit of practice with the few wild battles he had, but this? This was the real deal!

"What a cute Pokemon!" Lily giggled, "Too bad I'm gonna kick its butt! Go, Starly!" She threw her Pokeball, the device exploding in a cascade of red light that bunched together and solidified into a single form, a small bird-like Pokemon covered in gray-brown feathers appearing before Jam.

"Yours is pretty cute, too, but I think mine wins!" Gladys taunted, a hand going outwards. "Jam, Leer!"

This was the Espurr's time to shine. Its eyes glinted as it stared at the Starly, ears giving a bit of a twitch while he glared at the flying type. It didn't seem to have much effect, although Gladys noted that the Pokemon seemed to falter a bit before looking away as its trainer commanded it to attack.

"Wing Attack!" Lily commanded. The bird Pokemon chirped before going into the air. Its wings seemed to glow before it swooped down towards Jam.

"Dodge and Scratch!" Jam heard his trainer say. He didn't need to be told to dodge twice. Quickly moving to sidestep the charging flyer. It took him a second to get back up from his rather ungraceful leap out of the way, but he had enough time to reposition.

The avian was coming back for another pass, its wings looking just as dangerous as it did the first time. His paw began to glow as he bared his claws, and the instant the Pokemon came close he moved in for his own attack.

His claws met the Starly. Gladys cheered inwardly as the flying type stumbled in the air before righting itself, although it was clear that Jam managed to land a pretty solid hit. Whatever, she wasn't expecting it to go down in one hit anyway. "Good work, Jam! Again!"

"Grr... Starly! Quick Attack! Show 'em we won't back down so easily!" Lily commanded in frustration. Her Pokemon flapped its wings twice before suddenly charging at the Espurr on the ground, almost too fast for Gladys to even see.

Which of course was bad news for poor little Jam. He had little time to react before the Starly tackled right into him, knocking him off his feet while the flying type swooped back up. Gladys grit her teeth, watching the cat Pokemon slowly get up. "Watch out, Jam! Dodge the next one!"

The Espurr, even if he wanted to, could once again not react fast enough as the Starly came back around and hit him once more. Gladys frowned. She could tell Jam was starting to feel all these hits. As confident as she was in the little guy, he was still a new, fresh fighter. He wouldn't be able to take too many hits.

"Jam, get up and keep your eyes on Starly!" She commanded.

Jam was feeling sore, no, more than sore. But he wouldn't surrender. Not on his first real fight, and definitely not in front of his trainer and his sister! The Espurr did as he was told, standing on two dirt covered legs, watching the flying type.

Like before it was coming back for another hit. It didn't seem eager on relenting or even letting him make a move, but if he could just...

The Espurr stood its ground as Gladys clenched her fists. The Starly prepared another charge, and she quickly commanded her Pokemon. "Jump and then Scratch!"

The Espurr did so, leaping-well, more like hopping, up as high as its tiny legs allowed, which thankfully managed to be high enough to get out of the way of the Quick Attack. Enough so that the Starly couldn't realign in time to hit him. Just what he wanted as he came back down with his claws out, rending the Pokemon passing below.

Starly let out a cry as it fell. It was out. Gladys pumped a fist in victory. Quick, and not exactly clean, but a victory was a victory.

"We did it! Good work Jam!" She exclaimed as she went over and scooped up her little champion. The Espurr shook his head and looked up at her before giving a happy noise. In response she scritched his chin once more.

"Starly... awww..." Lily grumbled, kicking the dirt a little before moving over to her Pokemon, scooping it up carefully before recalling it to its pokeball.

"The win!" The two trainers looked towards the speaker, Victoria, who began approaching. "Goes to Gladys!" She announced.

"Good job, sis." Travis smiled to his twin. "That was a little close, wasn't it?"

"Yeah..." Gladys mumbled thoughtfully. Probably need to do a bit more training, she surmised. "But Jam still did pretty good, huh?~" She said in a bragging sing-song voice.

"Good work you two. Not a bad job from both sides." Victoria smiled, before laughing. "How about we all take a break, then?"

Gladys was about to protest, before she noted how dark it was now. Not to mention how tired Jam seemed to be.

For once she'd have to relent.

"So Victoria, you met the Gym Leader, right?" Travis asked the advanced trainer sitting on the log across from him.

"Indeed I have, sir Travis~" She smirked. "Why do you ask? Are you expecting me to give up any strategies~?"

"Eheh, no, I was just wondering what they were like. You said something about them." Travis shrugged, petting the little Espurr in his lap.

"Yeah! What kinda character are they? Are they cool? Or nerdy? Is it a lady or a dude? If it's a lady, you think she's Travis' type~?" Gladys grinned, getting a nudge from Travis that she promptly ignored.

"Hmm. Well, SHE is... energetic, I suppose. A bit eccentric." Victoria smiled. "But I don't think I should say anything more. It is your first gym battle, no? It wouldn't be as special or exciting if you already knew what to expect."

"Understandable." Travis nodded.

"I guesssss." Gladys gave a bored raspberry, before looking towards Lily, tending to her Starly. Victoria was gracious enough to heal everyone's Pokemon with her own significantly higher quality supplies. Her treat.

"How is Starly, Lily?" Travis spoke first. Looks like he noticed the girl being a bit quiet as well. Victoria also looked towards her.

"Mmph, fine..." Lily muttered while her Pokemon happily chirped up at her.

Victoria sighed, standing up and moving towards the girl while the twins watched. Her hand rested on the young trainer's shoulder. "Hey, we all lose sometimes. There's always next time."

Lily looked up at Victoria, before scooping up her Starly, the bird rubbing its beak against her cheek softly while she frowned. "It's just... I really wanted to impress you, and... I lost!"

Victoria watched the girl, looking over to the twins before sighing, kneeling next to the young girl. "You did impress me, Lily. You battled wonderfully for your first time." She smiled softly as the girl looked to her.

"I did...?"

"Yes. I'm sure with more experience you will be an amazing trainer. Perhaps even one who will surpass me. Maybe." Victoria laughed.

"I will...?!" Lily went wide eyed, hopeful.

"I'm sure. Especially since I'll be training you, hm?" Victoria smiled.

"You will?!" Lily exclaimed.

""You will?"" the twins voiced their disbelief in unison.

"Yeah, sure. I saw a lot of talent in little Lily here." She patted the girl's head as she blushed and wiggled underneath. "I don't mind training her. So long as she isn't so clingy and doesn't stalk me all the time, hmm~?"

Lily could only blush at that, hugging her Starly affectionately as the bird happily nestled into her arms. Gladys looked towards Travis, then joined him in a quiet laugh.

Things calmed down pretty quickly after that, and the other two trainers took their leave soon after, leaving the twins alone. Soon it was only Gladys, when her brother decided to call it a night and retreated into his tent with his Espurr.

Gladys sighed, looking down to Jam, the Espurr quickly beginning to fall asleep. She looked up to the night sky. Since Pemolo was such a small town, you'd usually be able to get a clear view of the stars, unlike in the bigger towns and cities. Still, this was on another level.

She realized something else. She needed to train more herself if she wanted to keep up. With Travis, with Lily, with the challenges ahead. She was being lazy.

She rubbed Jam's head before picking him up carefully, heading into her own tent.

 _The next day..._

"Alright Jam! Covet!" Gladys commanded. Her Espurr accept the command and, after cutely and innocently approaching it, attacked the target, sending the Seedot sprawling on the ground. He even got a berry out of it, holding it proudly.

"Hahaha! Good work, li'l guy!" She picked up the Espurr, looking towards the Seedot, who quickly hopped back and, after glaring at the two, ran away.

"Honestly. Suddenly you're a lot more eager to stick around instead of rushing your way over." Travis put a hand on his hip, his Espurr sitting atop his messenger bag as usual.

"Gotta train for the gym!" Gladys said simply. "The hero must always be ready for the challenges ahead. To show up unprepared is to practically already admit defeat!" She flexed an arm, while Jam flexed both his arms.

The look on Travis face could only be described as unimpressed. His Espurr just yawned boredly, as if sensing the feelings of her master. "...Yeah. I guess I can't complain." He shook his head, before looking through his pokedex. "Training is training, and time to start reading and filling out these entries..." he muttered to himself.

"Whaaaaaaatever." Gladys shrugged her shoulders, before looking down at Jam. "Back to training!"

"Purr!" Jam responded with confidence.

That said, there wasn't many Pokemon around, what with all the noise she had been making with her previous battling. She spent a good couple of minutes sneaking around to find another possible training companion, but options were greatly limited.

...

...

Gladys sighed, setting her Espurr on his favorite shoulder perch, leaning against a tree. "What a pain."

"Espurr Es." Jam mimicked her, leaning against the side of her head. The psychic-type looked around the area, taking in all the pretty flowers and trees around him. Then he looked up, at the tree next to him.

...?

Gladys felt a tiny fluffy paw poke at her cheek, raising her head to look over at Jam who motioned upwards. She looked up as well, into the tall tree's branches.

She saw something up there. She could only assume that was what the Pokemon was pointing her to. She couldn't really get a good look at it, though. She saw a bit of red, but it was certainly not any Pokemon she had seen around here so far.

A new Pokemon, then? How interesting! One that Travis hadn't seen yet, wherever he went! Even better! She moved Jam down onto the grassy floor where he stepped back silently and watched his trainer.

Gladys licked her lips and gripped the sides of the thin, tall tree. Then she began to shake it. "Hey! Get down here!" She yelled to surprise the Pokemon. Said little critter was evidently as impressive a sleeper as the girl was, as it didn't seem to budge.

That is, it didn't budge until Gladys shook the tree perhaps a bit too hard, sending leaves and the Pokemon itself falling from its branches. Gladys, however, played it cool, easily moving to catch the small, round Pokemon in her hands.

The Pokemon wiggled a little before dozing off again. So much for battling it.

That wasn't Gladys' concern, however, as she looked over the Pokemon in her hands before setting it down on the soft grass underneath.

It was a small Pokemon, as tall as Jam was, with a mainly red body aside from a yellow belly and some sort of collar, and cute, black little limbs and antennae.

More importantly than that. It was absolutely adorable! Especially the way it slept. Jam approached the Pokemon, looking it over with confusion before Gladys grinned, reaching into her bag and pulling out a Pokeball.

And thus, on the second day of her adventure, the hero caught her very first Pokemon.

Pretty easily, too.

 _Gladys- Current Party_

 _Jam, Espurr (M), level 9_

 _?- Kricketot (F), level 3_

 **-End of Chapter 3(Side G)-**

* * *

 **Side: U-1**

 _Days before..._

Victoria took a deep whiff of the fresh air. It really was lovely out here. Something about Leazon was so refreshing, compared to home. She could get used to it, although that was kind of sad too, not being able to experience just how _new_ it all was every day.

But that was a long ways away, surely. For now she was taking it all in for all it was worth. Now, according to her map and the words of that gym leader, the closest gym would be in the next town over. She was in... route 1, yes? Yeah, it looked as though that were correct. It was a straightforward nature trail, again something very refreshing in comparison to home.

There weren't many people about, she noted. It was kind of disappointing how few trainers there were around here, but perhaps it just wasn't a very popular spot.

But then she heard a noise. Several noises, actually. "Oho? So this land IS inhabited after all~" she joked to herself before stepping towards the sounds of conversation.

It sounded like there were quite a few people passed here, and a far ways away from the trail. A party, maybe? Oho~

She stepped passed the bushes and into a clearing. Unfortunately, a party it was not. What she did find was no less interesting, however.

There were several people, far more than a 'few'. Certainly enough people for a party, but what they were up to didn't seem to be for fun, judging by the various machines, people in labcoats, and running around.

It didn't take long for someone to notice that she was there. One of the supposed oddly dressed scientists stopped what they were doing and spoke to a cohort, and soon several eyes were on her.

Victoria would have spoke, but someone else did. "Hey hey hey! Get back to work you idiots!" A woman snapped. Every head immediately dipped down as Victoria saw two people step towards her.

It was a man and a woman, wearing similar white coats. Both sported rather odd blonde hair of the same color, as well as goggles and some oddly colorful blue gloves and boots, the only things visible from their coats. As they approached, she got a good look at the strange emblem on the chest of each coat.

"You! Hey! What are you doing here?" The woman accused the trainer, very clearly suspicious of the girl.

"I was just passing by and heard all the noise, so I came to look." Victoria admitted, peeking over the woman's shoulder to look at all the machines. "What's even going on out here?"

"Oh, as if I'd believe you! Especially after you ask that!" The woman huffed. Victoria saw her reach into her pocket and made to grab her pokeball, before the man cut in, grabbing his cohort's shoulder and shaking his head before moving in front of her.

"Excuse my partner. She isn't the friendly sort." He said calmly. "And she is just paranoid, what with the risks of a rival company possibly poking around in our work."

"Rival company...?" Victoria rose an eyebrow, lowering her guard for the moment, but still cautious.

"Yes." The man nodded. "We are part of a research group and are currently surveying the area and gathering data on the Pokemon who inhabit it. As you can imagine, it is very delicate work."

"Ah... I see." The trainer crossed her arms.

The man cleared her throat as the woman behind him continued glaring at her. "Yes. We cannot afford interruptions of any sort, I am afraid. You aren't in any trouble, but I must ask you to leave."

Victoria couldn't help but be suspicious, but at the same time... "Yeah, okay. Sorry for barging in. Uh, maybe put up a few signs next time."

The man chuckled. "We considered it, but really, that would just make us look more suspicious." He shook his head.

Victoria gave the two a look, before heading away from the site, perhaps a bit too quickly.

...

...

"You shouldn't have let her go." The woman hissed. "What if she says something?"

"She won't." The man whispered. "And besides, what if you did use it on her? What then, hm? What if she ran off? Then she really would say something, no matter what." He grunted. "Do you want to take the fall for a mess up like that? If so, please, go on!"

The woman glared at him in defiance, before he pointed towards the large rigged up tent. She hissed and stomped off to it, pushing one of the scientists and causing him to nearly knock over a table he had been working on.

The man sighed, two gloved fingers moving his visor up to rub between his eyes.

 **-End of Side Story-**


	4. Chapter 3T: Steps

**CHAPTER 3T: Steps**

There was a joy to be found in the artful pursuits. The ability to create something of your own, the ability to use your imagination and inspiration towards something. Travis had gotten into art at a young age, and his parents supported his endeavors, buying him his first sketchbook. It was then that he spent quite a number of his free days doodling whatever silly thing he could think of.

Quality was of no matter, all that mattered was that he put his visions to paper and enjoyed himself. It was a relaxing hobby for him, with no real goal or pursuit, he just loved doodling whatever he might enjoy.

"Whatcha drawing?" Gladys grinned, sitting at her brother's side and taking a peak. She was, perhaps, Travis' biggest fan when it came to his sketches, always getting a kick out of them even if she wasn't much of an artist herself.

Upon the sketchbook was a drawing of two Espurrs. No doubt where he got his current inspiration from, at least. She grinned, "Ooooh, that looks really good!" She spoke her approval quickly, as Travis rose his head and gave a laugh.

"You think so? It's a bit messy. Drawing outside feels kinda... different, you know?" He questioned, before looking back at the sketch. Two Espurrs sat next to each other, with smiles on their faces and the typical wide open eyes of their species as they pecked away at a bowl of food.

He gave a look upwards. Of course, he had been basing it on the real image of the two Espurrs eating, the group taking a break for lunch at a grassy path. The two Pokemon had quickly left their positions after they had their fill, however, with Ella now sitting on the side of Travis opposite Gladys and 'Jam', as his sister had chosen to name him, taking a perch atop the girl's head.

"We haven't even been out a day and you already miss your desk~?" Gladys teased. Travis gave a mock glare before she laughed. "But seriously, it looks cool!" She grinned, before staring at the page. She put on a look of contemplation before smirking proudly and pointing to an Espurr. The one on the right. "That one's Jam!"

Travis gave a blink as he looked towards the sketch. "Wow, you're right! I didn't even finish drawing the two. How could you tell?"

"Hmph~" her hands went to her hips as she sat up straight. "Of course, an experienced trainer can easily recognize their own Pokemon" she gave an exaggerated laugh, before lifting the Espurr off her head and moving him to her lap, sitting him down. "Besides, Jam has bigger eyes, and he's a bit fluffier." She nodded knowingly, before pointing to the other Espurr. "You can tell that one is Ella, because she's a little taller and her ears are rounder!"

Sometimes, Travis had to admit, the attention to detail his sister had was scary. Then again, he did draw it that way, although he was merely attempting to be as accurate as he could. He hadn't even noticed the subtle differences between the two psychic-types while drawing them!

He shook his head and closed the sketchbook, storing it in his bag along with everything else. After one more check he gave himself a nod in satisfaction before standing up. "It's about time we go, since everyone finished eating."

"Hey, I was waiting on you this whole time, champ." Gladys giggled, before stretching her arms. Indeed, she had already packed everything up. "Oh, get this! Some of my pals and followers gave us some 'good lucks' for the road." she commented as she arose from her seat, scooping up her Espurr in her arms.

"Eheh, that's nice..." the boy gave a shrug, as he lifted his own little feline friend up and stood. "Did you check your map?"

"Yup. We still got a lot to go, but if we keep going and don't stop for anything we'd probably make it by tomorrow night."

"Well... probably no point in rushing that much. We SHOULD at least take some time to work on the pokedex and train..."

The two began walking, the dirt path peaceful, surrounded by calm wilderness. Not enough trees to be a noticeably dense forest, but just enough to provide something to look at.

"Yeah. I gotcha." Gladys agreed. "First gym battle. As awesome as Jam is, wanna at least get some bulking up in before we charge headfirst, huh?~"

Travis gave a nod, before looking around. Admittedly, not many Pokemon were about today, it seemed. He had seen the occasional Seedots and even a Burmy up on a tree, but they quickly hid from the two trainers before he could even react to them.

Regardless, he did add the two entries to the Pokedex. Images of the Pokemon appeared in their respective entries but not much else, most likely for him to add.

Route 1, a trail that led between Pemolo Town and Ricota City, the location of their first gym challenge. Aside from a few small ponds, there were very little in regards to interesting landmarks along the route itself.

Because of its natural environment it was the perfect den for grass types of all kinds. At the very least, that is what Travis assumed. Certainly, many trainers who had stopped at the inn back home said so.

With that in mind, Travis decided that he would catch a few of those grass types before the day was done. Surely the Professor would be impressed if he managed to catch a few on the first day, and he believed he knew what to do if all his studies held true...

"Alright, just be very quiet..." he instructed, although it was perhaps more for himself than for Gladys, who followed behind with her arms crossed.

"I didn't say anything..." she whispered behind him, smirking. He always did read a little too much on catching pokemon. Not that he would admit that.

After making a quick shushing motion, the young lad approached his prey. He repeated the steps in his mind. Step 1, get close.

"Ella, go!" he commanded. The Espurr gave a small noise before hopping down onto the grass. The rival pokemon, a small green plant, shorter than even the foot tall feline, jumped in surprise as it turned towards the attacker. "Use scratch!"

"Purr!" Ella didn't hesitate. Doing so would just give the Pokemon the chance to escape. She ran forward and rose a paw, short but decidedly sharp claws extending before she brought it down on the opposing Pokemon. Her attack struck true, the little pokemon having little time to react and dodge.

The pokemon gave a noise. It wobbled back on stubby legs before giving an angry look with its small eyes. It wasn't down for the count yet. It began to glow a light green color before the top of its head seemed to open, green lights shooting out towards the Espurr. Despite her attempt to evade, the Espurr let out a gasp, shivering. Her body flashed before the green light seemed to go back towards the other Pokemon, going into its body with an odd shimmer.

She wobbled in place but regained her balance soon enough. She could tell that something had happened immediately, legs feeling weaker, a tad sluggish. No physical wounds, but she didn't want to get hit by that light again.

Travis could feel a bit of a rush. He had his pokedex out, scanning the attacking grass type. It showed that the Pokemon used a move called 'Absorb'. The name gave a pretty clear indication of what it did, especially as the wounds on the Pokemon seemed slightly better as it sprang up. "Looks like it can heal itself... amazing!"

"Get a grip, bro, you're still fighting!"

"E-erh, right!" Travis shook his head, a faint tint to his cheeks before he looked towards his Espurr. "Go for Covet!"

"Es," Ella brushed her ear a bit before straightening up, approaching the pokemon. But instead of attacking, it simply walked calmly, even giving a friendly wave.

To say the other pokemon was confused by the situation was an understatement, not really sure what to make of it as the Espurr soon came close. She gave a cutesy giggle and engaged in conversation with it, which definitely contradicted her behavior from before!

"Purr~" Ella commented, cute little hearts forming over her head. She smiled as the Pokemon seemed to lower its guard.

And that was the opportunity she wanted. Those hearts vanished as she charged the small Pokemon, tackling it quickly before it even knew what was happening.

The Pokemon gave a cry as it was sent reeling, landing on its back with a light thump. It huffed and struggled to get back up.

And now it was Travis' turn! He pressed the button on the empty Pokeball, causing the object to pop into its full size in his hand. He gripped it tightly, before tossing it to the downed Pokemon, not giving it the chance to recover. It was a hit, the capture device opening up as a red light surrounded the confused grass type, its form disappearing into the light which quickly retreated back into the Pokeball.

With that the ball fell to the ground with a thud. It began to shake, all eyes watching it eagerly. The ball shook once. It shook again. One more time.

...

Ding!

Travis stared at the Pokeball for a few seconds, before grinning and raising an arm in victory. "I did it! My first catch!" he smiled as he ran to the Pokeball. Ella had gone over to inspect the catch, so in one movement he scooped up his Espurr and grabbed the Pokeball. "You did it! Good job, Ella!"

"Purr," the Espurr rose its head in pride. Was there ever any doubt?

Travis laughed as Gladys wandered over, Ella taking a spot on his shoulder. "Good job bro, you had that one in the bag! How's it feel, eh? Being an 'official' trainer?~" she teased.

"Hehehe... that really got me going. It's pretty amazing when you do it for real instead of just listening and studying..."

"I bet." Gladys laughed. "So, what'd ya get?"

Travis blinked. "Ah!" he pulled his pokedex out again. In the excitement, he had forgotten to add the Pokemon.

He held the device to the pokeball and let it run the scan.

Budew, the Bud Pokemon. This specific one was a Male. After he marked it as 'caught', similarly to when he checked the Espurr category several other bits of information regarding physiology and 'stats' appeared. Grass and Poison type, although luckily for him it didn't know any Poison-type moves. That would certainly have caused some trouble.

"So this is Budew..." he held the Pokeball up, before smiling. "Welcome to the team."

The sun had begun to set soon after. The view on the hill was caked in the orange light. Sunsets were perhaps nothing too special, but there was something, Travis figured, about seeing one with no signs of civilization in sight, the flowers and grass flowing gently in the wind.

They'd have to set up camp soon. As exciting the prospect of getting to their first gym battle was, it was important to get lots of rest as a trainer. No point getting sick or developing unhealthy habits. The first day of their journey was drawing to a close, it seemed. A little too quickly, too, although that perhaps was helped by them leaving in the afternoon.

"We should start getting things set up." Travis decided, eliciting a groan from his sister. "Don't give me that! It's better we get ready before it gets too dark!" He crossed his arms sagely.

"No waaay." She complained. "I want to keep moving! It feels like we barely made any progress at all!" The girl puffed up her cheeks and frowned. Travis could only sigh. "Especially since you spent, like, 10 hours hunting down more Pokemon!"

"You didn't complain before!" Travis spoke in his defense. "And you could have joined in," he accused the girl. She, admittedly, did do quite a bit of fighting on her own, but as for catching? She hadn't used a single ball. Saving them for a possible catch she'd REALLY want, she said.

Meanwhile, Travis was already out. Perhaps he did get a bit overzealous; if he were to stumble across a new Pokemon now, there'd be nothing he could do. Regardless, he had to settle the more current issue.

"We made plenty of progress, Gladys. If we really wanted to, we could reach Ricota tomorrow." He sympathized. "Especially if we wake up early."

"Uuugh. I hate mornings." Gladys groaned.

Travis ignored that complaint, "And didn't YOU agree that we should take some time training instead of rushing to the gym? It's not going to move while we're out here."

While Gladys muttered and continued pouting with a confused Jam on her shoulder, Travis for his part looked at his surroundings. Plenty of trees and natural fields of flowers around. Perfect place to set up camp, in his opinion. He took a few steps toward the side of the path before something caught his eye.

Movement, on the path that lay in front of them. A better look indicated two shapes, and further examination indicated that said shapes were human. "Hey, Gladys, look, there's someone over there!"

Gladys arose her head in confusion before looking. "Oh, hey! Think they're trainers?" Her mood took a sharp 180. Trainers meeting each other, for the most part, could mean only a few things.

"Well, if they're out here in the middle of the evening..." He shook his head.

The two walked onwards towards the other group. Upon closer examination it appeared to be two girls, one seemed to be about the twin's age, maybe older, while the other was unquestionably a younger girl, most likely a student at one of the schools over in the city.

Another unquestionable fact about the two was that, of the two, it seemed one was significantly more eager to have the other around. Specifically, the smaller, brown-haired girl seemed to be pestering her senior, floating around her as the older girl did her best to continue walking despite the hovering presence.

Her gait, however, stopped when she saw the twins. She blinked once before approaching. The smaller girl, for her part, quickly noticed that something was wrong before she looked towards Travis and then ran after her older friend.

"Well now, I wasn't expecting to see more people out here at this hour." The older girl chuckled. Her voice had a slight accent to it. One that Travis couldn't really recognize. "Trainers, I assume?" she said, paying close attention to Travis' bag for some reason.

He looked down to see Ella sitting on top of his messenger bag. Of course, that would certainly make his status as a trainer obvious. When he looked up he saw the girl's attention had gone to his sister. Gladys had begun speaking without him noticing. "-we just started, hehe! How about you?"

"Of course." The trainer smiled proudly, brushing her green locks of hair back. "I could tell you two were new."

"Eeh? How so?" Gladys seemed semi-curious, crossing her arms. Jam looked down at her and then quickly copied the movement, paws crossing over his fluffy chest.

"You tend to pick up on how strong others are once you've been in the game for a while." She giggled. "Victoria, the little one here is Lily."

"I'm not little!" The lass huffed. Hard to say such a thing when you're the shortest person in the group.

"Gladys! And the stick in the mud here is my bro Travis~" She snickered, shaking hands with Victoria while Travis gave a grunt of his own.

"So are you two heading to Pemolo?" Travis asked. The older trainer paused, putting a hand to her chin. He could immediately tell that she wasn't native.

"Ah! Is that the name of the town this route is connected to? I suppose I am heading there. As for her..." Victoria glanced down at Lily, whose eyes quickly moved from her to Travis.

"Yep! I'm going there too!" She blurted out quickly. Travis could hear Victoria sigh.

"So why are you two travelling together?" Gladys grinned for some reason lost to Travis.

"Victoria's my teacher! She's gonna show me how to be an epic battler like she is! And then I'm gonna fight her!" Lily blurted again in excitement.

Victoria held back a grunt, a hand absentmindedly batting a lock of her long hair around. "I'm touring the region, myself. As trainers do. I was exploring this route for a while, quite a pretty walk." She laughed a bit, "This girl clinged to me back there, and I have yet to shake her, sadly."

"That's mean..." Lily huffed, pouting. Her expression quickly shifted as she went straight back to hopping. "So! So so so! What are you two up to, huh?"

"We're heading to Ricota for a gym battle." Travis began.

"Ah, the gym there, right." Victoria nodded, before chuckling. "The leader was quite the character. I wonder if all the gym leaders in this region are as quirky."

Travis rose an eyebrow, looking over to Gladys. She shrugged in response. They didn't really do much research on the Ricota Gym aside from the fact that it was centered on fighting types.

"Victoriaaa! I know what you're doing!" Lily's voice shattered Travis' train of thought as all eyes turned to the young lass. "You totally just talked to these guys so you wouldn't have to answer me!"

As Victoria gave a defeated sigh, Travis blinked in confusion. "What's going on?"

"She's very much dedicated to battling me." Victoria shrugged, before staring at the twins. Slowly, a grin filled her face. "Alright, then." She turned to Lily. "Very well, you want to battle, then let us do so!"

Lily's eyes filled with stars. "BUT!" And those stars quickly fell. "Only if you can defeat these two!"

That certainly got Travis' attention. "Excuse me?"

"Yeah, excuse him!?" Lily pouted. "Why do I have to do that!?"

"These two look more on your level, so it'll be good practice before facing me." Victoria chuckled smugly. "Those are my terms, no changing it."

"Hey now..." Travis began. Lily gave a groan in frustration and turned to face the boy, pointing an accusing finger up at him.

"Fine! I'll fight you first!" Lily exclaimed, a hand already on her Pokeball. "1 on 1, let's go!"

"Er-"

"Just hurry it up, Travis." Gladys pointed out, seeming more than a little amused. "How can you say no to your first trainer battle? Besides, if you lose, then I get to go~"

"Your vote of confidence is appreciated..." muttered the boy as he trudged into the grass, turning around and facing his opponent. She seemed to be eager to start, unlike him, although that was probably just so she could get this over with.

He shook his head. "Alright, Ella, you got this." He smiled down at the psychic feline. She looked up at him, eyes making contact for a few seconds before she nodded and hopped out of the bag, standing in front of him and facing the other human with confidence.

"What a cute Pokemon!" Lily giggled, "Too bad I'm gonna kick its butt! Go, Starly!" She threw her Pokeball, the device exploding in a cascade of red light that bunched together and solidified into a single form, a small bird-like Pokemon covered in gray-brown feathers appearing before Ella.

' _Flying-type... a basic matchup, I think..._ ' Travis wracked his brain for info on this Pokemon. As far as he knew it didn't have any sort of advantage over a psychic type like Espurr, but it was the same way the other way around. He just had to pick his moves correctly, then.

"Quick Attack, Starly!" the girl exclaimed, snapping Travis out of his thoughts. The boy stammered as the flying type lunged towards Ella. He commanded the Espurr to dodge, but the attack lived up to its name of being 'quick' and Ella barely had any reaction time before Starly reached her.

The strike connected, sending the Espurr reeling back as the flying type was in the air. "Ella! Get up!" he commanded. She gave a frustrated mewl before doing so, facing the Starly once again. ' _Don't get too distracted...'_ he chastised himself before pointing to the Starly. "Scratch!"

"Dodge it and tackle!" Lily commanded. Ella had bared her claws and leaped up at the flying-type, before the Starly simply flew above her. She had barely any time to react before it swooped down and collided with her, sending her sprawling to the ground once more.

"Nngh!" Travis grimaced. He's making mistakes, too many. His eyes darted to the side where Gladys and that other trainer were watching, cheering him on. He blinked his eyes and quickly refocused on the task at hand. No more fooling around. "Stand your ground, Ella!"

"Who even names their Pokemon something like that?" Lily giggled, before pointing at the Espurr slowly getting up. "Wing attack and finish them off, Starly!"

The Pokemon gave a cry, wings flapping energetically before it swooped down. Travis watched, tense as it approached his Pokemon. "Confusion!"

Ella didn't waste anytime, her eyes drowning in a blue-white glow. A glow that transferred to the Starly. The flying-type gave a shocked cry before it felt an invisible force of some kind. It hurt, and it was enough to send its flight to a halt, its swoop wobbling and veering to the side before it crashed into the mildly soft grass below.

"Wh-hey! Starly, don't give up after just that! Come on!" The other trainer protested. With a bit more encouragement the pokemon stood, flapping its wings.

And then its eyes met round, purple dots. The Pokemon stumbled back on its feet, wings outstretched as the gaze seemed to go through it.

"Scratch!" Travis commanded. Ella broke her Leer and lunged into the Starly with her claws. Having left itself wide open, the flying type gave a squawk before being rended by the angry feline.

"Starly!" Lily cried once the Pokemon dropped to the floor. Despite attempts to lift itself, it was clear to those present that Starly was finished.

Travis gave a big sigh, releasing a breath he had been holding, a hand going to his chest as he relaxed his posture. "The win goes to Travis!" He heard someone say, turning his head to see Victoria stepping between the two. She looked to Lily, who had quickly run over to Starly's side. "Better luck next time." She chuckled.

"Geez, Travis!" Gladys snickered. "I know I said you should lose so I could get a turn, but did you have to make it so close?"

"E-eheh... well, we won anyway..." Travis walked towards Ella, kneeling by the Espurr. The Pokemon looked tired and more than a little ruffled up. "Good job, Ella, you did amazing."

The feline rose her head and appraised her trainer, before feeling his hand on her head, lightly petting her. It was no secret that she enjoyed the feeling, especially after such an ordeal. Travis' arms wrapped around the psychic-type and lifted her off the grass, hugging her to his chest as he stood back up.

"Good work you two. Not a bad job from both sides." Victoria smiled, before laughing. "How about we all take a break, then?"

"Ugh, I wanted to keep going, but if this is how it is..." Gladys rolled her shoulders.

"Hehe..." Travis spared a nervous laugh before brushing Ella's head. "You can rest for now, Ella. Let's call it a day." The Espurr need not be told twice, taking this as a cue to get comfy in her trainer's arms. Lily only glared at the boy in that huffy way of a child who didn't get what they wanted from the store, although Travis could only smile in nervous pride before turning away.

...

Travis' sketchbook was open for the second time that day, his mind filled with thoughts of feathers, beaks, and wings. Drawing purely by memory was challenging, and he had no doubt he was getting some of the details wrong. That was fine, however. It was okay to him so long as he kept drawing.

The doodle of a Starly with its wings proudly stretched outward, flying overhead filled the single page. He had also scribbled a few other Pokemon below it. Nothing too detailed, but it was fine the same. These were more scribbles than actual art pieces, anyway. Something to keep the creative parts of his mind flowing and his hands sharp. That and it just felt good to not be too serious about things once in awhile.

The group had set up camp there. At the very least, Travis and Gladys did; the other two had stayed for a while to eat and chat before going off on their own. The boy looked down at his Pokemon, the Espurr napping at his side, looking no worse for wear but clearly still tired out from all the work done that day.

Travis sighed, putting his pencil atop the sketchbook and petting the Espurr with a free hand. Gladys was most likely in her own tent now. He had some quiet to reflect on the day.

Six. He had caught six Pokemon that day. Six new entries in his Pokedex in need of filling. If only Gladys helped, considering it was also her job to be filling the Pokedex too. He imagined she wouldn't really put her heart into it, though, which meant it was up to him.

Maybe he should have asked Victoria or Lily to spare some extra Pokeballs. He rubbed his head, before his fingers wrapped around his glasses and took them off, setting them inside their protective case.

No point in dwelling on things now. This was just the first day of his adventure, and there was no telling where the next would take him. Hopefully, though, it would take him to Ricota City.

But that was for the future. In the present, the day was over.

 _Travis- Current Party_

 _Ella, Espurr (F), level 10_

?

?

?

?

?

 **-End of Chapter 3(Side T)-**

* * *

 **Side: Pa-2**

 _At another time and place..._

Payton sat atop the bed, one of those hard not-really beds that were usually set up in doctor's offices and hospitals. Payton didn't really know if they were called anything else, but there were more important things occupying the teen's mind at the moment.

Like their family. Were they okay? The troubled teen imagined they were in similar situations, stuck in an intimidating room while a doctor looked them over. At the very least Payton's apparent caretaker seemed rather understanding and delicate. Payton was just happy to be able to move again after all that extensive examinations.

But now Payton couldn't hold it in anymore. The youth had to ask. Absolutely had to. "So, doc..." they moved a hand gingerly to their throat, clearing it a little. Fond or used to the noise coming out, Payton was not. "Am... am I okay?"

The doctor, a man with a bit of age to him, one that Payton could only imagine had heard that question many times, and most definitely there were few times when he didn't have a good answer, adjusted his glasses. "There are no abnormalities in your body. None medical, I should say." He answered.

"And... other kinds of abnormalities?" Payton couldn't help but bite their lip. Eyes glanced towards the door, but quickly focused on the old white-coated man.

"...Well, as I am sure you are aware, your body has been... drastically altered." The man chose his words carefully, sympathetically. "I assure you that there are experts looking at your condition as we speak, you and the rest of your family."

Family. Payton couldn't help it as their emotions came flooding- the panic of all that had happened to the young adult, the anxiety of what WILL happen, the anguish over having gotten their family involved. "I... r-right, that's good to hear." Payton's voice, so unnatural and different, sounded so soft then, trying to regain composure. "Will I... am I still...?"

The words were caught in Payton's throat but the doctor seemed to know what was being asked regardless. "No, we've seen no more signs of it being 'contagious'." The man chanced a smile when Payton slumped in visible relief, before continuing. "Have you heard of Pokerus, by any chance? It's a very rare virus that infects some Pokemon and spreads to those nearby, but it's always temporary and disappears on its own after a while. It seems a bit like that. A contagion was detected on some of your other family members- the ones who had obtained it most recently, but it's gone now."

"So we're all safe? We can go home?"

"I am afraid that is not a question I can answer." The doctor admitted, peering over his glasses. "We have never seen anything like this before, and while it seems quarantine is unnecessary for all of you, there are other concerns... as I am sure you understand."

Payton went silent, before nodding. "Is there anything else?"

The man cleared his throat, turning towards his desk and looking through some papers. "Well... Mister Parr, that depends on you, doesn't it?"

Payton noticed his pause, but didn't bring attention to it. The teen didn't need reminders of the current situation, especially not when they could look down or feel the hair on their shoulders. "What do you mean?"

"You've gone through a very dramatic change. How do you feel? How is your mood? Does anything feel off or wrong? Are you hiding any stress?"

Payton thought about it. How DID the 17-year old feel? Tired, conflicted, not really in control of their emotions, a little hungry...

Payton glanced downwards, examining their hands. Small and purple, delicate with five digits, human yet not quite and definitely not the hands the part-timer at a construction site recognized. "I don't know. I guess I just feel weird." Payton shrugged.

"Hmm. Yes, well, while we didn't detect anything physically 'wrong' with you, there is a multitude of psychological things that aren't so obvious." The Doctor said, before leaning forward, bringing Payton's attention to him. "I'd like to recommend a few therapists just in case, for you and your family. I have some cards..."

Payton nodded, although the youth's eyes were occupied, staring downwards at their body. It was as if it was the first time that Payton had ever seen it... although the number was probably pretty low anyway. Those small, soft arms arose from a lap covered in red fabric and wrapped around a small torso as yellow locks hung from the corner of Payton's eyes.

It all felt so wrong, but at the same time Payton felt like they weren't freaking out as much as they could, or should. Maybe it was because Payton had already grown used to it? Or maybe it was because of the change too.

It felt natural, but it felt unnatural that it felt natural. It was a paradox that only served to confuse the teen more. Payton was more of a heavy lifter than a heavy thinker honestly.

"Alright... thanks, Doc." Payton nodded. For a moment the youth moved to extend a hand, but after looking down at it decided not to.

The escort waiting out the door adjusted his hat once Payton stepped out of the office. "Come on." He said bluntly.

Payton couldn't help but frown a little. Really, so much moving back and forth the last few days. "Where are we going now?"

"Orders came in. We're taking you all home." The officer answered as the two moved down the hall.

"...Wait, home?" Payton momentarily stopped walking, but quickly clicked behind the large man to catch up when he didn't slow down. Honestly, if anything, some top secret lab or government building was expected, certainly not back home.

"Yes. Further explanations and instructions will come once you are all together. Now if you'd please, miss."

Payton didn't say anything in response, although _she_ doubted there was anything to really say anyway.

 **-End of Side Story-**


	5. Chapter 4G: The Bounce Back Kid

**CHAPTER 4G:** **The Bounce Back Kid**

It was just about after noon when two redheaded kids first went through the city gates, entering the most western port in the Leazon region: Ricota City. Originally a small fishing village, the city grew into the second most modern locale in southern Leazon, second only to the Capital itself. This was, of course, in fact due to its closeness to the shore and relatively stable waters, allowing it to be a primary port where many ships both came and went. Beaches and an ocean view along with a variety of luxury cruises made it a pretty relaxing hot spot over the years, despite it also being an important location for shipments. The city probably had as many luxury ships and hotels as it had warehouses.

"Back in civilization!" the energetic girl took in a big breath of city air- before coughing a bit. A paw rested on her cheek and she gave the Espurr residing on her shoulder a reassuring thumbs up before straightening herself out.

"Yeah, Ricota City." Travis ignored the more overdramatic part of his sister's outburst- along with the occasional glance from people passing by- and took in the sights of the tall buildings and paved roads. "Pemolo looks so tiny compared to all this."

"Hehe, well, helps that Pemolo IS pretty tiny anyway, you know?" Gladys joked, even getting a small laugh from her brother. "Still, though. We've been here before a few times, but now it feels kinda different."

"Yeah. I think I understand. It's more exhilarating in a way." The twins walked down the large road, the girl's starter on her shoulder admiring the huge buildings and the boy's opting to relax in her own little section of his bag. "Knowing that we came here with our Pokemon. This is the first real step to our adventure, isn't it?"

It was clear to Gladys what he meant, of course. Ricota City wasn't just any old port city. It was also home to one of the official Pokemon League gyms of the Leazon region. This, the two had unanimously decided even before obtaining their starters, would be the first leg of their challenge.

It helped that it was so close to home.

"Right! I'm practically bursting to get started! Me an' Jam are gonna rock that challenge easy!"

"Don't get overconfident, sis." Travis crossed his arms, stopping and giving her a concerned look. "Sure, it is the first badge, but it is still considered a 'gym challenge' for a reason. Particularly the **challenge** part" he emphasized.

Gladys waved a hand casually. "I know, I know. But the first step to winning is believing that you'll win! I read that once!"

"I suppose..." the boy gave a relenting shrug, before reaching into his bag and getting his pokedex. "The Pokemon center is two blocks down and to the right. We shouldn't miss it."

"Cool! Better get Jam in top form for his gym debut. Map say where the gym is?" She asked him as they resumed walking, scritching Jam's chin and eliciting a pleased purr from the cat Pokemon.

"Hmm... further down this road, 5 blocks. Left side," he directed. He looked towards Gladys after reading it, although she couldn't see due to her being slightly ahead of him. "Gladys," he called.

"Yeah, T?"

"Well, we never really discussed how we were going to do this." Upon a confused look from Gladys, he continued. "Who's going first?"

Now _that_ was a good question. One that made Gladys think. "Well, you have that thing for mom you had to do anyway, right?"

Travis went wide-eyed at the realization. "Ah! I almost forgot!" He fumbled with his bag, getting a few upset mows from Ella as her half-nap was disturbed. Finally, Travis gave a sigh of relief as he patted the thin yet large package stuffed safely in his bag. "...Right. Yeah, I need to call mom and let her know we've arrived, and have her call the person who wanted this."

He gave an encouraging smile to Gladys. "You can head to the gym without me. It's better this way, anyway. I don't want an unfair advantage over you by getting to watch your fight."

Gladys smiled right back, giving a thumbs up. "I'll make ya proud, bro! Meet up in the center after both of our battles?" He nodded in agreement. This way, they can reveal the results of their challenges to each other at the same time.

With that, they headed to the Center. Gladys had them check up on her two Pokemon before she set for the gym.

There was a beep as the digital camera clicked to indicate the picture was taken. Gladys lowered her camera to look up at the large building. "So this is what a gym looks like, huh..." she mumbled as she took in the building's design.

In actuality, it didn't really look like any sort of official Pokemon league building. Or, at least, what she imagined a building like that would look like.

Instead, the building in front of her looked... well, actually, it looked like a gym! As in, a _gym_ gym. A very wide and spacious two story building with glass panes occupying a fair chunk of the first floor, where she could see large rooms full of either gym equipment or some yoga mats. And, of course, quite a few people and Pokemon alike using them.

"This is the right 'gym', right?" She looked doubtful, looking over to Jam for support. The Espurr, bless him, stared at the map on her phone but clearly had no idea what he was looking at. She stared at the large front doors, and the huge sign on the awning above it.

 _ **RICOTA-FIT**_

Gladys hmmed to herself. The map definitely said this was a gym, and it definitely looked like a gym, but-

"Hey, Jam, wait up!" She distracted herself to pick up the Espurr, who had hopped off of her shoulder and run up towards the large glass door, pushing against it to open it. She was about to go look for another gym or ask for directions, but that was when she caught sight of the sign on the side of the walkway leading to the gym's door.

 **Home of the Ricota City Gym!**

 **Gym Leader: Hevelin**

" _ **The heart who gets others pumping"**_

Well, darn. Guess that settled that. Gladys decided she should pay more attention from now on. And then she opened the glass doors and stepped in. The room itself was pretty wide and fairly air conditioned, but the only thing in it was a front desk with a peppy looking lady attending it.

"Hello! Are you here for one of the classes, or are you a member?" She asked, looking between Gladys and the Espurr in her arms, smiling at the latter.

"No, I'm a trainer-" she motioned to the psychic type in her arms before continuing, "This is the gym, right? I mean, the badge type of gym, you know? I want to battle the gym leader here."

The blonde woman nodded in understanding. "Okay, I understand! May I see your license? Just need to run it through."

Gladys nodded and did so. The woman gingerly took the card and set it next to her as she typed on the computer.

"Oh! Is this your first gym battle?" she said suddenly, most likely looking at Gladys' record.

"Yep!"

"I see. Congratulations! Actually, not many trainers end up coming here first, but... I'll be right back!" She placed the license on the counter for Gladys to retrieve before heading through some sort of side door.

Gladys was left waiting, leaning against the desk and watching Jam run around the room that smelled a bit too much like air freshener. The excited and curious psychic pushed against one of the larger doors in the room, trying to get a peek. With nothing better to do, Gladys moved over to open the door a bit, letting both glance into the room. Before they saw anything, they heard some loud, energetic music. Apparently the door was soundproofed. Cool. Inside were rows of various exercise equipment with a large number of people and pokemon using them. One of the rooms she saw from outside.

She closed the door quickly when she heard the woman come back. "Here we are!" she said proudly, placing some kind of small case on the desk.

"What's that?"

"Your badge case! Obviously, you need a place to put your badges if and when you win them." She helpfully informed. "Sorry it took a while to get it. Like I said, not many trainers come here first, so I had to dust it off a bit, but it should be nice and shiny new now." She slid the case towards the girl, who grabbed it and opened it up. Indeed, there appeared to be 8 separate spots to pin badges into on the velvety surface inside.

Gladys admired the case for a moment, imagining filling it up completely soon enough, before the receptionist cleared her throat. "So. Miss Hevelin currently has a class, but she should be willing to have a battle soon. Just head on in and talk to her." She pointed to the hallway behind the desk which led further into the building. "Up the stairs, the room immediately on the left."

"Alright, cool! I'll head right on up! Jam, let's go!" She knocked on the desk to get the cat's attention, and he quickly ran to follow her.

"Five, and rise. Six, and rise. Seven, and rise. Lisa, I see you back there! Bend those knees! That goes double for you Scrafty, don't be sneaky!"

Energetic music played from the speakers as Gladys stepped into the room. She looked around, the entire large room being full of both human and Pokemon, each with their own individual mats as they went through the stretching routine. Jam covered his ears while Gladys removed her shoes as the sign at the door instructed, before entering the room proper, closing the door behind her.

No one really paid her much mind, although she did get a glance or two from the people nearest to the door.

"Okay, okay! Now we got a rhythm going! Come on! Yeah! Back to lunges, work those legs!" Gladys turned her attention to the rather loud young woman at the very front of the group, her back to the rest, although she could still see the rest of the room with the huge wall mirror in front of her.

Wearing a white workout tank top and dark grey trackpants with white stripes, the woman was nicely tanned with loud aqua colored hair, long and tied back in a ponytail that reached all the way down her back.

Gladys figured that she probably wouldn't be able to get her attention unless she just went up and talked to her. She seemed friendly enough, at least. The red head cleared her ears as the music just got louder as she walked by the speaker directly, and at this point people were lifting their exhausted heads to look at her while she passed. At this point even the woman leading the routine noticed her, stopping her count and talking in a slightly more indoor voice. "Heya! You're late! Sorry, can't talk, just grab a mat in the back and join in."

"Actually, I'm not here for the class." Gladys responded, before looking over the crowd.

"Oh?" Her breath was just a tad ragged from the exertion. She blinked, running things through her head, before blinking again in understanding. "Oooooooh." She nodded between lunges. "Gym battle?"

Gladys nodded.

"Yeah, I gotcha, I gotcha. Right." She picked up a remote at her feet and pressed a button, the high paced music shutting off abruptly enough to throw some people off. The colorfully haired woman stood up straight, clasping her arms together and stretching them up above her before putting them back down. "How many- HEY! I didn't tell anyone to stop! Hit thirty and start jogging in place!" After some groans that quickly halted themselves, she smiled back to Gladys. "How many badges?"

"None yet. This is my first."

The woman, who at this point it was clear was Hevelin, the acclaimed gym leader, blinked, pausing while getting a black jacket from a small chair. "Wow, really? Huh! Well alright!" She clasped a hand to her chin in thought. "Hmmm... it's been a while... how to do this... right!" She looked out towards the class, dozens of pokemon and people jogging in place. She looked around, then pointed. "Mienfoo, Tyrogue, with me! Lisa, get your Pokemon to the arena! Hmmm... Trevor, you too, I saw you slacking behind there!" The two humans nearly collapsed, hunched over and practically drowning in their sweat. Trevor gave Lisa a glare before the two tiredly left through the backdoor.

Hevelin laughed, looking over to Gladys with an energetic grin, slipping one of her arms into a sleeve in her matching track jacket. "Let's go! Don't forget your shoes." Practically everyone else in the room stopped at this point. "Breloom, lead the class while I'm out, you know the routine!"

"Bre!" the mushroom fighter saluted, bouncing over to the front of the class as human and pokemon alike groaned. After speaking entirely in what may as well have been gibberish to the exhausted, sweaty humans it began leading the class through jumping jacks before Gladys finally got her shoes on, found Jam on one of the empty mats in the back hopping in place, picked him up and quickly followed after Hevelin.

"I gotta say!" Hevelin started, grinning back towards the redhead following her as they walked down the hall, "It's pretty exciting, yanno!?"

"Yeah, my heart is pounding!" Gladys agreed, before blinking, "Wait, what is 'it'?"

"Haha, right! I mean, being the FIRST gym! I never do no-badge challenges!" She let out a laugh, brushing her hair back a bit. "People see a Fighting type gym and think, 'oh, dang, those are pretty tough, right? I should wait until my Pokemon get a bit more experience or I catch a strong Flying type!' Like, I haven't seen a team yet that doesn't have at least 1 Pokemon that's already evolved!"

"Well, guess that makes me the first, then!" Gladys said proudly. "I'm a total newbie!"

"Hahaha!" The two girls laughed together at that. Her pep was contagious, Gladys decided. "Still, though, it's kinda... whew, what's the word?" She thought to herself, "Yeah, nerve-wracking."

"Why's that?" Gladys smirked, "I'm the one doing the challenge, you know..."

The gym leader snickered, crossing her arms. "I mean, it's just... being the first stepping stone to your adventure! It's an honor on its own, I think." She looked back to Gladys with a smirk, "I gotta make a good first impression to you for everyone else that'll come after me! Like, what if you get bored or get scared off! That'd really _suck_! I gotta make your first gym battle special!"

Gladys blinked, then giggled. She nodded confidently. "Don't worry. I totally plan on getting to the top, just you watch!"

"Well alright! That's the spirit I like to see in all my challengers, newbies or veterans!" Hevelin grinned, stopping in front of a large door at the end of the hall. "But let's see if you can back that up!" She pushed the door open in a grandiose display, letting Gladys peek inside.

A large, cleared out room, about as large as the room she had seen on the ground floor with several stands to the sides, obviously for an audience. What stood out more, though, were the markings on the floor, a rectangle indicating a battle arena with circles facing each other on opposite sides where one would stand.

Overall, the traditional simple stadium for an official trainer battle.

"So! I never got your name!"

Gladys snapped back to attention. "It's Gladys."

The gym leader nodded, walking forward before turning around dramatically, crossing her arms. "Trainer Gladys! I am Hevelin of the Leazon Pokemon League! My specialty is Fighting-Type, where power, speed, and going all-out are just the name of the game! Are you ready for your challenge!?"

Gladys held back a laugh from the rather overdramatic display, looking over to the psychic cat on her shoulder. Getting a nod from her partner, she glanced down to the pokeball on her hip and then faced Hevelin. "I'm ready!"

"Very well! Since this is your first gym battle, I will be testing how you react to a trainer battle! As I am sure you know, they are very different from fighting a wild Pokemon! Expect your opponents to employ strategy and even use an item or two! You, of course, will be expected to do the same! You're allowed 2 items that you can use whenever you want for the entire challenge, and nothing else! Endurance is important for an athlete, so we'll see how well ya can keep your Pokemon going and if you can tell when they need help!"

Good thing she brought some potions, then. Gladys had, admittedly, experienced a trainer battle before, although only one battle probably wouldn't qualify as being 'fully experienced'.

"Defeat these two opponents, and you will be allowed to fight me! If you run out of usable Pokemon, I will judge your performance and determine if you qualify for the badge!" She grinned at that, "and, if you just HAPPEN to beat everyone, you qualify no matter what! Now then, for your first opponent..." she glanced over to the two young trainers sitting on the stands, currently drinking from water bottles. "LISA!" the girl in question coughed in surprise as her name was called, "You're up first! Show Gladys here how much your own Pokemon have trained!"

"Y-yes!" She ran to the circle on the opposite end of the battle arena, standing in its center. Gladys took that as her cue to move to the other empty space. "Alright, challenger! I'll only be using 1 Pokemon, but don't expect it to go down without a fight!" The girl that looked only around a couple of years older than Gladys announced, pulling out a Pokeball. "Go, Croagunk!"

With a toss, a dark blue frog-like Pokemon appeared in the air. Shortly afterward it landed, sitting in a half-crouched position.

"Croagunk, eh? Hehe... sounds perfect for you, Jam. Go get 'em!" Gladys motioned to the field, and quickly felt a weight lift off her shoulder as the cat Pokemon hopped down and took position.

Jam noted the unamused look on his first opponent. Croagunk's smug expression twitched for a moment as she looked over her shoulder at her trainer.

"Er... don't look at me like that! Just do your best!" Lisa encouraged the horribly mismatched Pokemon.

Croagunk sighed and turned back to face Jam.

Hevelin stopped herself from giggling _too_ much and rose an arm. "Alright, let the first round, begin!"

Croagunk suddenly ran forward, surprising Jam as it closed at least half of the distance between them before the Espurr noticed how one of its hands seemed to be glowing.

"Poison Sting!"

Jam leaped away from the Croagunk before the poison-tipped fingers could connect, but didn't expect the Croagunk to turn and try at another swipe with its other hand. The punch itself wasn't so bad despite it hitting Jam dead on in the stomach, but the psychic-type could quickly detect that there was something else at work as he felt an odd burning underneath his fur where the attack made contact.

Jam worked to quickly make some distance, building up a psychic energy around the burning on his skin. Little specs and droplets of an alien liquid were picked away and flicked off of his body before they had the chance to seep into him.

Okay, good. No aftereffects.

"Jam, Confusion!"

The Espurr turned around, quickly noting that the Croagunk was soon approaching. In perhaps a slight panic, the Pokemon shut his eyes and focused. A pressure in his ears, and like a strong burst of wind a psionic wave of weak yet potent energy launched forwards. Luckily, Croagunk was in its path, and before she could follow up on her first attacks the mixed fighter croaked in surprise as she was suddenly lifted off her feet and launched backwards.

It hurt a lot. Her body, alone, was quite susceptible to psychic forces, so despite the rather weak force she was launched back far more than normal. The other drawback, however, was the poison inside her, that same invisible force causing a bad chemical reaction to the compounds that made up her toxic liquids.

It was kind of like getting indigestion.

In her cheeks.

Not particularly fun.

The Croagunk got back up, frankly pretty annoyed with this bratty little cat.

"Jam, you're faster than it, so make sure to keep your distance!"

"Like we'd let you! Croagunk, Astonish and then close in!"

Jam watched for the Croagunk to move, but instead of that, the poisonous frog puffed up its orange cheeks and arose.

And then a horrible, _awful_ noise like a rattling blubber came from the frog. The noise made Jam stop in his tracks as a shiver went up his spine and... _something_ was making it REALLY hard to concentrate. His body went cold as he cowered, covering his sensitive ears in disgust.

"Jam!"

Gladys called out in concern, but the Psychic-type didn't respond, even as the Croagunk approached.

The Poison-type stood over the vulnerable Psychic and moved to hit with another potent Poison Sting

And then there was a funny feeling in her chin.

The feeling of a fluffy cat's head making contact with it.

And then...

H-hey! Where was this brat grabbing!

Croagunk stumbled back, rubbing her jaw and glaring at her opponent.

"Nice Covet! Looks like she didn't have anything, though..."

If Croagunk's cheeks weren't holding poison, they'd be red.

As it was, she instead opted to scoop some of the dirt that padded the gym floor and toss it at Jam. The Espurr didn't expect such a crude maneuver, and got a face full of Mud Slap for his efforts.

Jam gave an unsatisfied meow in distress as his paws rubbed at his eyes to get some of the dirt out of them.

"Jam! Use Confusion!"

Jam used Confusion.

From the lack of distressed croaking, it seemed like it missed.

"Jam, it's to your left!"

Jam launched several weak blasts to his left. Smaller, faster shots of mental force.

Now _that_ got a reaction. Jam squinted and saw the Croagunk getting back up.

"One more!"

Jam fired one more.

Croagunk rolled about two and a half times before finally toppling over. She lifted a hand up before flopping it back to the floor.

"And Croagunk is down for the count! That's an accurate Espurr right there!" Hevelin announced.

Jam rose his stubby arms up in victory, before quickly going back to rubbing away at his face. Dirt really did get stuck in fur easily. His struggles soon came to an end when he felt a soft set of arms lift him up and a towel rub at his face.

"There we go, Jam, good work!"

The Psychic type looked up at Gladys, and gave a proud mewl up to his trainer.

"Nice job bringing a psychic type here. Not even some 2-badgers can find one to do that, but luckily my Pokemon isn't as easy to flake out with that!" the boy, Trevor if Gladys remembered right, announced as he moved to take Lisa's place. The girl in question retrieved her fainted Pokemon and moved to the stands behind Hevelin.

"Are you ready for the next match!?" the Gym Leader exclaimed/asked Gladys.

"Oh, yeah, sure! Lemme just..." Gladys reached into her bag and brought out the small blue medicine spray. Jam shut his eyes as the spray coated his body, the slight sting in his chest and ringing in his ears quickly beginning to subside. One of her two allowed items for the challenge used up already. "Okay, Jam, rest up for the gym battle, I'm gonna try and win this with her instead."

The Pokemon gladly took the advice, sitting by Gladys' side as she pulled out her Pokeball. The sweaty boy known as Trevor did the same. "Alright! You got passed Lisa, but lessee how you do against the rising star of this gym! Go, Meditite!" He called out, tossing his Pokeball.

After a flash, a white and blue humanoid of a Pokemon landed on the floor, sitting with its legs crossed as if it were meditating. Gladys wasn't particularly familiar with this Pokemon, but if it was here, obviously it was a fighting type.

Either way, that didn't really change her strategy for it. "Alright, making her own battling debut! Go, Lyrica!" She tossed her own Pokeball, the device opening and releasing a red beam that quickly took the form of the tiny red bug she had caught just a day ago.

The Kricketot blinked her beady eyes sleepily and wondered where she was for a moment. She saw the Meditite standing in front of her, and noted that she was indoors.

Oh, right. She was caught, apparently. An odd bit of news to wake up to, but that had happened. She didn't really mind it. It sounded kind of fun going on an adventure and getting strong and stuff.

She looked back and saw the girl that had caught her. She had an excited smile on her face. "Do your best, Lyrica!"

Lyrica. That was a nice name. The girl's energy was a bit infectious and woke the little bug up a bit more as she turned towards the weirdly posing Pokemon.

"If both trainers are ready... begin!" Hevelin announced.

"Lyrica, Struggle Bug!"

"Meditite, open up with a Confusion!"

The Pokemon stood up on one leg and waved its arms oddly. Lyrica decided that the Pokemon wasn't up to anything good, and recognized that it may be one of those psychic-y types she had heard about once or twice. Her stubby legs weren't much good for dodging, though, especially stuff she couldn't see. She instead focused on the command she was given and launched the tiny green shards, letting them float around her.

She then felt it, the wave of psychic energy causing her to lose her footing and get launched back rather painfully. It was at that moment that she flailed and sent the green pinpricks loose, sending them forward where they met their target, covering Meditite in the green effects of her attack. The psychic-fighting type felt various stings on his body, an odd itch being left behind on each sting like a tiny bug bite that made his skin crawl.

The bug type gave a small chirp as she was knocked aside, skidding on the ground slightly before getting back up. She now had a headache, while he felt an increasingly distracting itch where those tiny needles hit him. Overall it wasn't a very good trade on the bug type's end, and Gladys soon took notice.

 _That Pokemon hits hard for its size... right!_ Gladys called out to her Pokemon, "Struggle Bug again!" The attack had proved effective before, and she was aware of its effects on the kinds of attacks this Meditite seemed to be using.

Lyrica nodded, and took in a deep breath before focusing once more.

"Don't let them, Meditite! Drain Punch!"

"Dodge that!"

Lyrica didn't need to be told twice. She launched her second struggle bug, but the fighting type quickly sidestepped the attack this time while it moved to close the gap between the two. She moved out of the way, using short hops to backpedal from the angry fighting type's glowing fist as it had suddenly lunged forward at her.

"Hit it with another Struggle Bug while it's close!"

The bug type nodded and focused a bit more on her attack. It was hard to concentrate on dodging and attacking at the same time, so she had to play it a bit more smart.

Instead of hopping backwards, when the Meditite went for another punch, she hopped forward passed his arm, getting right in his face before launching the tiny itchy pricks. This got a bigger reaction out of the fighting type as he got a face and chest full of mosquito-bite like jabs launched at him from point blank. The Pokemon stumbled back while Lyrica took this moment to get some more distance between the two.

Meditite scratched himself in annoyance and shook his head, grimacing. This wasn't going particularly well for him...

"Meditite, get back over here!" His trainer called, getting his attention. Meditite blinked and did so, ignoring the urge to scratch himself. He was relieved to see his trainer pull out what he recognized as one of those potion sprays. He let himself get sprayed down and, while he still felt a bit bruised, he could already feel the stings dying down a little.

"Well, guess we are allowed items..." Gladys mumbled. "Lyrica, how you feeling?"

The Pokemon in question bounced in place a little in response. Lyrica decided that she could be better, honestly, but she was still standing, so.

Gladys nodded at her Pokemon. She assumed the bouncing around was her way of saying she was good. "Alright! Let's keep going, then!"

Her opponent just healed up. It still looked a bit hurt, but most of their work had been thrown out. She'd just have to hit harder to make up for it.

And she knew how!

"Alright, Lyrica, just stay there!"

Now that was a weird command. Although, it was an easy one, so the Kricketot did so. She waited on the spot, watching the Meditite as his trainer commanded him to do another Drain Punch. She didn't really like the sound of that attack, and not just because she knew what 'punching' entailed, but her trainer evidently had a plan...

The fighting type charged, and charged, curling his fist as it began to glow bright hot. Lyrica felt like she could already feel the ensuing pain that getting punched in her cute little face would entail. She kind of really didn't want to get hit, but her trainer said to stay, so she'd stay. What even IS her plan?

"Now! Use Bide!"

 _Oh_ , that was the plan.

The Kricketot was suddenly surrounded by a white outline as it concentrated and curled inwards slightly. The other Pokemon's trainer wasn't able to call off the attack fast enough before Meditite collided with her.

It hurt a lot, as she expected, but at the same time she felt that pain being redirected, circulating within her. She didn't even go flying from the collision as she had expected to. No, instead she stood her ground, skidding back on her feet slightly before the Meditite hopped back and looked at the glowing Pokemon.

"Meditite, get away from it!"

Meditite looked a little worried, but quickly did what his trainer told him. He recognized the move, since it was one that he also knew at one point. What soon followed was a couple of tense moments as they awaited for the Kricketot to make its move.

And that moment came quickly. Quite literally, as before the Meditite could blink the little bug had suddenly sprung forward like a rocket, leaving a trail of white light behind it. And that rocket was coming right for him.

Meditite soon got a taste of what one of his punches really felt like from the other end. To put it specifically, he got a taste of what it felt like to get two of his punches at the same time, on the same spot.

Meditite decided he really didn't like it, and while the stars went through his eyes he considered maybe not doing it as often. Maybe just switching to yoga and the peaceful art of meditation for real.

Lyrica collided with Meditite's right cheek with all the force of two angry Meditites fueled by buggy rage, sending the fighting type flying with a bit of a spin to its launch and sprawling on the ground, before the attack subsided and the Kricketot stood up on top of the now unconscious fighting type's belly, looking around.

"And Meditite is out, a perfect KO if I've ever seen one!" Hevelin cheered, raising an arm to signal the end of the fight.

"So much for the rising star!" Taunted the girl, Lisa, as Trevor recalled his Pokemon.

"Urgh..." Trevor grumbled, looking nervously at Hevelin, who only grinned toothily in response. He sighed in defeat, sulking his head. "15 laps around the block again for us... I knew I shouldn't have replaced Detect with Work Up..."

Lyrica blinked her beady eyes as it looked down at where her opponent had once been, and looked around as people began to talk. She was soon surprised by a pair of arms lifting her up into the air, wrapping around her a bit snugly. "You did great, Lyrica! An amazing first battle!" Gladys grinned, scritching underneath the Kricketot's collar with a finger. The Pokemon wiggled its stubby limbs a tad before Gladys laughed and hugged it. The bug type noted the Espurr sitting on her trainer's shoulder, who was also congratulating her.

Lyrica kind of liked this praise, she decided.

"I'll have to agree! That really got my blood pumping! An exciting, passionate battle!" Hevelin cheered, stepping forward, laughing a little as she watched Trevor sulk his way to the stands. Her smile turned into a semi-mischievous smirk, however, as she turned her attention back to Gladys. The girl in question took only a moment to realize what that meant.

"So, you beat my two challengers. Really impressive," the gym leader began, crossing her arms. "You're not all talk, we've settled that much. You got guts, and ya got some talent." She reached behind her and pulled out two pokeballs of her own.

"But now we're gonna see if you got enough of that to beat _**me**_ _._ " Hevelin finished, an excited grin on her face.

Gladys couldn't hide much of her own excitement as she turned to face her.

The real challenge started now.

 _Gladys- Current Party_

 _Jam, Espurr (M), level 10_

 _Lyrica, Kricketot (F), level 7_

 **-End of Chapter 4(Side G)-**

* * *

 **Side: TrLi-1**

 _Days Later..._

"Don't look at me like that," the girl pouted as her Pokemon crossed her arms. She slouched her shoulders in defeat, lowering her hand. "I dunno why you're so picky! Pokemon like my food!" She huffed.

The Croagunk croaked at her. Lisa, for some reason, suddenly felt offended. "They so do!" She pointed an accusing finger at the poison-fighting type. "You just have bad taste, clearly!"

Croagunk turned her head away from her fussy trainer. For some reason, Croagunk was the one Pokemon in the gym that refused to touch her food. She couldn't imagine _why_! She put the utmost love and care in mixing the berries correctly to make these sweets!

"C'mon, at least try one! I worked hard on these!" Lisa begged. Croagunk risked glancing at the girl, and immediately regretted it as she saw her whimpering puppy dog eyes.

The poison-type gave a croak in defeat. Super Effective. She closed her eyes and stretched out a hand. Lisa beamed and placed one of her poffins on the outstretched limb. Croagunk brought the cursed food item closer to inspect it.

This was happening, huh? Lisa was watching very closely. There was no getting out of it. At least she was poison-type, that might help. _Might._

Sweet Arceus, the smell. What kind of berries did she use? Did her trainer just have no sense of smell or taste? Now, Croagunk didn't know much about the process of baking, but she was certain that you couldn't just toss whatever you find into a bowl and wish to Jirachi that it'd work.

Croagunk was stalling. Maybe if she just ate it all at once and avoided touching it with her tongue it wouldn't be so bad. She steeled her nerves and opened her mouth-

"Yo, Lisa!" her savior had arrived. Her trainer's attention was taken away by that one boy, Trevor. "What's up?" the boy asked her. By his side was his own partner, Meditite. While the humans conversed, Meditite approached the Croagunk.

"Oh, just giving Croagunk some poffins I made!"Meditite inquired over how Croagunk was doing. In response, the poison-fighting type held up the charred looking poffin.

"Oh... your poffins, huh?" Trevor resisted the urge to look away. Croagunk's eyes pleaded with the psychic-fighter for help.

"Yep! Here, you can have some for your Pokemon! I made plenty to share!" Meditite immediately understood the poison-type's woes.

"Eheheh... yeah, sorry, I just... fed them myself, you know? Can't spoil my Pokemon too much..." Subtly, the white and blue Pokemon moved to stand next to Croagunk. Trevor glanced to the two Pokemon but quickly returned his gaze back to the girl after realizing what was going on.

"Oh, fair enough I guess..." The two Pokemon moved their hands behind their backs. The cursed food item was passed between the two, and Croagunk suddenly felt as if a weight was lifted off of her shoulders.

"Anyway!" Trevor said, clearing his throat as he sidestepped Lisa, incidentally making her turn away from the two Pokemon. "I'm going to go get lunch for myself from that one new sandwich place 3 blocks down." Meditite crossed his arms and hid the poffin underneath as he walked back to his trainer's side. "I'll talk to you later, seeya!" Perhaps a bit too quickly, the two bolted out of the door.

"Hmph, boys. What a weirdo!" Lisa put her hands on her hips and scoffed, before turning back to her Pokemon. "Oh, Croagunk! You actually ate it! What did you think?"

Croagunk stared at the girl for a good long moment before raising a hand and waving it in a 'so-so' fashion.

Could use some work.

 **-End of Side Story-**


	6. Chapter 4T: The Unity Foundation

**CHAPTER 4T: The Unity Foundation**

It was just about after noon when two redheaded kids first went through the city gates, entering the most western port in the Leazon region: Ricota City. Originally a small fishing village, the city grew into the second most modern locale in southern Leazon, second only to the Capital itself. Populated with many businesses and shops thanks to the large quantity of both goods and people entering and leaving, the port city had significant success. Eventually, hotels and resorts also started moving in, making Ricota one of the go-to places for tourism in the entire region. At the very least, it was definitely the highest rated tour spot in South Leazon.

"Back in civilization!" Gladys ran ahead first, head looking up at the buildings, taller than most of the buildings back in Pemolo town. She took a big breath, savouring the salty city air- before coughing.

"Yeah, Ricota City." The more subdued twin ignored Gladys' overdone display as he took a look around himself. Being here felt different. Exciting. He glanced over to the Pokemon in his bag, her eyes gazing at the giant buildings. This was probably her first time in a big city, Travis noted. "Pemolo looks so tiny compared to all this."

"Hehe, well, helps that Pemolo IS pretty tiny anyway, you know?" She gave a bit of a shrug, and he couldn't help but laugh. No denying that, at least. "Still, though. We've been here before a few times, but now it feels kinda different," she added with a bit of dreamy sigh.

"Yeah. I think I understand. It's more exhilarating in a way." The twins walked down the large road, the boy's starter watching the people and buildings pass by in her own little section of his bag while the girl's sat on her shoulder. "Knowing that we came here with our Pokemon. This is the first real step to our adventure, isn't it?"

The meaning behind his words were obvious. Ricota City wasn't just any old port city. It was also home to one of the official Pokemon League gyms of the Leazon region. This, the two had unanimously decided even before obtaining their starters, would be the first leg of their challenge.

It helped that it was so close to home.

"Right! I'm practically bursting to get started! Me an' Jam are gonna rock that challenge easy!" She cheered with a fistpump that her Espurr mimicked.

"Don't get overconfident, sis. Sure, it is the first badge, but it is still considered a 'gym challenge' for a reason. Particularly the **challenge** part."

Gladys waved a hand dismissively while the boy frowned. "I know, I know. But the first step to winning is believing that you'll win!" She nodded affirmatively before grinning. "I read that once!"

"I suppose..." Travis shrugged. He had long since learned that Gladys had her own way of doing things. He reached into his bag, stopping to give Ella a pat on the head before pulling out his Pokedex and opening the built in GPS. "The Pokemon center is two blocks down and to the right. We shouldn't miss it."

"Cool! Better get Jam in top form for his gym debut. Map say where the gym is?" Gladys asked as they resumed their walk.

"Hmm... further down this road, 5 blocks. Left side," he gestured to the street names and the blip that indicated where they were. When he looked up, however, Gladys wasn't even next to him, instead she had moved on ahead slightly, eyes darting to every colorful building they passed by. "Gladys," he called after a moment.

"Yeah, T?"

"Well, we never really discussed how we were going to do this." She turned towards him with a raised eyebrow. "Who's going first?"

Now this got her attention. "Well, you have that thing for mom you had to do anyway, right?"

Travis went wide-eyed as he realized what she meant. "Ah! I almost forgot!" His hands immediately went back to his bag, getting a few upset mows from Ella as her half-nap was disturbed. Finally, Travis sighed in relief, hands on the package he needed to deliver. Safe and where he last left it. "...Right. Yeah, I need to call mom and let her know we've arrived, and have her call the person who wanted this."

He smiled to Gladys. Guess that settled who was going first. "You can head to the gym without me. It's better this way, anyway. I don't want an unfair advantage over you by getting to watch your fight."

Gladys smiled and gave him a thumbs up. "I'll make ya proud, bro! Meet up in the center after both of our battles?" He nodded. This let them do their own thing while the other was doing their challenge.

With that, they headed to the Center. Travis waved Gladys off as she left first, while he stayed behind.

Ella sat on Travis' lap as he made his call. After a few rings, the person on the other end responded. "Travis, dear!~" An excited shout hit his ear. "Hello!~"

"Hey, mom. Hope you're not busy." Travis brushed his head with a free hand.

"Oh, only as busy as usual, although I must say that I'm feeling a bit lonely... my two children, off on an exciting adventure, sniff...!"

"Eheh, it's only been two days, mom..." He laughed half-heartedly.

"The first days are the hardest part! There's a hole in the house without you two, now... This must be what they meant by an empty nest...~" the woman on the other end teased.

"Well, if everything goes well, we'll both be back in Pemolo in a few days anyway before we go to Sansapul..."

"Oh." A moment's silence. "Well, hum. That kind of ruins the moment." They both laughed at that, while Ella tilted her head up at Travis. As he gently rubbed her chin the mother of two began to speak again. "So, what's going on? Are you homesick already, dear?"

"No." He spoke, before hastily adding "well, maybe a little. But that's not what I'm calling for. Gladys and I are in Ricota City."

"Oh, wonderful! Are you two well? Can I speak to her?"

"She's off doing the gym challenge. And yes, we're fine. Anyway, about the delivery?"

"Ah, that's right! Right right right. I'll call the number they gave me. Someone should head to the PokeMart right away, so just wait there, thank you, dear."

"No problem, mom. I'll call when we're ready to head back to Pemolo."

"Be sure you do, so I can prepare a nice big meal to celebrate your first badges! Oh, and Travis?"

"Yeah?"

"Good luck! ...And see if you can catch me a nice Pokemon! Something cute to fill the void left behind~"

Travis rolled his eyes and hung up the phone. He smiled down to Ella, giving her a few pats. "Time to go, Ella." The Espurr reluctantly moved out of the way as Travis stood up, then climbed back into his bag and got comfortable.

The PokeMart was right next door, so it wasn't like they would be in too big of a rush. Plus, Travis had a bit of shopping to do anyway.

Travis suppressed a yawn, rolling his shoulders a little while Ella had dozed off once more. It had been about 10 minutes. No calls from his mother, either. He could only assume the person he was meeting was on their way.

At least he restocked on Pokeballs.

"Wonder what Gladys is up to..." he murmured. Hopefully, she had found the gym already. His mind lingered on the thought of his upcoming trial. Fighting type, so Ella would obviously have to participate. Who else, though...

"Excuse me." Travis jumped a little, looking over to the man who had approached. Business casual, white skin, some stubble and short black hair. "Unity Foundation. You're... Travis, right?"

"Yeah, that's me. Nice to meet you." He nodded.

"Likewise." The man gave a nod. "I was told you had a delivery for me, yeah?"

"That's right." Travis pulled out the file-sized package from his bag, careful not to wake Ella. He presented it to the man, who took it. The man opened the envelope and partially pulled the papers out, sifting through them and counting the pages under his breath.

"...Yeah, everything's here." Suddenly the man relaxed, looking a lot less imposing as he gave a relieved sigh, his hand going to his forehead. "Thank goodness. That's one burden off my back. And one less person I have to start signing papers to fire, heh..." The man stuffed all the papers back into the envelope they came in and stuffed it under his arms. "Thanks for coming all the way here, kid. I really owe you one."

"It's no trouble. I was heading to Ricota anyway, so it was on the way." Travis nodded.

"Heh. Modest. Nice." He looked downwards, Travis following his gaze to the sleeping Espurr in his bag. "Trainer?"

"That's right."

The man nodded. "Regardless of what you say, you really did me a big favor, kid. You have no idea how important this file is." He grumbled. "So important that I have no idea who had one of the interns carry it, but that's something I'll fuss over another day."

"Important?" Travis tilted his head, curious now.

"...Hm. How much do you know about the Unity Foundation?"

"Well... I know they're a charity group and support daycares and other Pokemon facilities." Travis mused.

"Heh, well, yeah, that is true, but we do more than that." The man smirked. "Tell you what, kid. You should come give the Unity Foundation a visit. You look like someone who'd appreciate it. 'Least I could do in return."

Travis looked at the man, then gave a light shrug. "I don't have much else to do for the next hour or so."

"Great. Come on, it's a bit of a jog."

And so they got walking. "So, as I was saying. Our funding and volunteer services for daycares is just one part of the foundation as a whole. The Unity Foundation at its core is a service centered around the wellbeing of Trainer and Pokemon alike."

Travis moved to keep up with the man's rather brisk walk. "And that means?"

"We do a lot of research too. The volunteering is the more obvious part of what we do and the big part that most people see and worry about, but beneath that? We have a whole science division. With several facilities across the region." The man explained.

"Wow, that sounds pretty impressive!" Travis nodded, causing the man to smirk proudly. "So that file was..."

"Yeah, pretty big stuff." The man laughed. "Your surprise lets me know that you didn't look at what was inside, so that's good. If you did, I'd have to..." he threatened, before laughing again. "Just kidding."

"Eheh..." Travis looked aside, rubbing the back of his head.

"So how long have you been a trainer, kid?"

"A few days."

"Huh. You're a total newbie, huh? Nice. Guess you're here for the gym. Did you do the challenge already?"

"No, not yet."

"Darn, am I keeping you? You didn't have to accept my invitation just cause I offered, you know. I don't mind. I'm a pretty boring old man that works at a pretty boring old building, after all." He chuckled to himself.

"No, it's fine! My sister is doing the gym challenge right now, so I want to wait until she's done before I go to the gym."

"Aaaah, I get it now. Heh, well, hopefully this'll be a good time waster."

A while had passed in silence.

"You know, I was a trainer once too." The man mentioned.

"Once? You quit?"

"Heh. Don't get me wrong, now. It's not like I was bad at it or hated Pokemon or anything. I was completely and totally adequate," he laughed. "I just found out I had a bigger passion for science than battling."

Travis nodded, looking down to Ella. After a while in silence and a lot of walking, the man stopped with Travis following suit. "And here we are, welcome to the Ricota branch of the Unity Foundation." The man swung his hand dramatically, gesturing to the large building they stood in front of. It looked like an office of some kind. With a smirk he then turned around and gestured across the street, Travis' eyes following his hand towards a much smaller looking building. "That there is one of our daycares and shelters. Probably something more interesting for a trainer to check out later if you want, heh. Anyway, let's head in and start that tour."

"Sure!" Travis smiled, following the man inside. A pristine white and airconditioned room greeted him as he entered, with a rather impressive front desk. Even out here, there were people moving about, with at least two of them in lab coats.

"Good afternoon, sir." An imposingly large man in a suit nodded to the man who Travis had followed here. Then his eyes turned to Travis and he suddenly looked much less friendly, taking a step forward before the man rose his hand to the guard's chest and stopped him.

"He's with me. He did us a favor, so he's a VIP for the day, got it?" The guard nodded and the man smirked at Travis. Before he continued walking, however, he handed over the envelope to the guard. "Also, get someone to bring this to my office." The guard listened dutifully and headed off. He sighed, looking over to the boy. "Sorry about that. Things have been a bit... hectic with security, lately. Anyway, what do you think?"

"It's definitely hard to believe this is all charity..." Travis mumbled, getting a laugh out of the man.

"I bet. Especially since it's not all charity. We have quite a few companies backing the more research oriented side of our organization. Even the official Pokemon League is interested in a few of our projects."

"Wow... that's pretty amazing..." Travis looked in awe at the surroundings. He definitely felt a sense of... importance.

"Yeah. It is." The man said pridefully, chuckling. With a shake of his head. "Regardless, let's get the tour on the way-"

"Excuse me, sir." A woman in a labcoat interrupted as she ran up to him. "We have a bit of a situation..."

The man sighed. From what Travis could tell, this was something that happened often. "Can it wait? I'm in the middle of a tour here..." The other woman began whispering to him, although Travis chose this moment to slip away and not listen in out of politeness.

"This place is really impressive." Travis mumbled as he gazed around the large office. It was definitely not what he expected from the Unity Foundation. He heard a tiny 'mow' of agreement and looked down, chuckling at the Espurr poking her head out from his bag. "Hey, Ella. Had a nice nap?" The little psychic meowed towards him in response.

"Hey." They both turned towards the man, who decidedly looked rather annoyed by something. He gave a sigh. "Sorry, something major's come up, so it looks like we won't have any tours in here today." He reached into a pocket in his shirt, pulling out what looked like a card. "Here, have this."

Travis took the card, looking down at the text. It had a blue and white emblem of some kind with 'U.F' and 'Volunteer pass' printed on it, along with his own name on the back. "What's this?"

"Show it at any of our daycares and they'll let you in the back. Figure you can give yourself a tour across the street." He shrugged. "Don't lose it, now. Some unsavory types would love to get back there with all those eggs, you understand?"

"Wow... thanks!" Travis nodded. "I think I'll go check it out now!"

"You do that." The man gave a nod, before turning around and muttering. Travis decided it was best to head out.

The air outside was different from inside the building. "Well, Ella. Let's go try out this pass, huh?" He smiled down at the Espurr, who could only tilt her head in response.

With that he crossed the street and entered the daycare. There were only a few people around, and most of them seemed to be people who actually worked there. Overall this small lobby definitely felt more relaxed than its companion building across the street.

"Hello! Welcome to Unity Daycare!" The friendly young woman behind the counter beamed. "What brings you here today?" She asked, before smiling down at the Espurr in Travis' bag.

Travis placed the card on the counter. "I just got this and wanted to look around, if that's okay."

The woman looked at the card, then gave a knowing smile. "Oh, that's fine. All the new volunteers always want to go look at the little ones and the eggs. See what's _behind the scenes_. Can I have your license? Need to get you in the system and all that."

He nodded and got out his own trainer card. It was a few moments of typing on the computer before the woman gave him both of the cards back and motioned him towards the door behind the counter. "Go on ahead! And remember, don't touch any of the Pokemon or eggs, okay?"

"I'll keep that in mind, thanks!" Travis nodded, walking around to the opening in the counter and heading inside.

It took little time to reach the room where they kept the eggs. Travis couldn't resist walking inside to get a look.

He was amazed at the sight. Eggs of all kinds of patterns and colors placed in careful rows.

This was his first time seeing Pokemon Eggs. They weren't normally seen around. Only places like labs, daycares, or ranches had them, while there were fewer trainers who would have an egg out for everyone to see. He wasn't even sure if the professor had any eggs back in Pemolo!

"Stunned into silence, boy?" an old voice spoke out. Travis looked up from the pinkish purple egg to the source of the voice, a rather aged, stocky looking man smiling at him.

"Yeah. There's something about them..."

The old man laughed wistfully. "I know what you mean, boy. I've been around 'em for decades, and there's still somethin' so mysterious and magical about 'em..." He turned, looking at the eggs for a moment, seeming oddly nostalgic. Travis stared at him for a while before he looked back to the boy, offering a rough looking hand. "Name's Bernard. Boss around here. You new, eh? Seein' as you're out o' uniform, anyway."

"Travis, this here's my partner Ella... and yeah, I guess I'm kinda new?" He took the hand, the old man's grip deceptively strong. "Truth be told, I just sort of did an errand for someone over at Unity Foundation and they gave me a pass..."

"Hah! Sounds like ya got volunteered into volunteering, boy. Those big wigs over there sure do love to get their noses into things. But I guess so long's they help keep the place afloat they can send as many people as they like." The man joked.

"Eheh... yeah, they did seem pretty... business-oriented." Travis admitted.

"That they are. That they are. You haven't seen some o' the spooks that come around." He chuckled. "The science types, come in here and examine some of the eggs and Pokemon for data, wearin' those big glasses and coats. They look real outta place when they come around."

"I can imagine." Travis nodded, crossing his arms as he looked over the eggs. His bag stirred and he lifted Ella up so she could get a look at some of the higher shelves. "What's inside this egg?" Travis motioned to the one in front of him.

"Hmmm. Well now, that's a real good question!"

Travis would have to be oblivious to not get the meaning behind Bernard's tone. "I'm not getting an answer, huh?"

"A little rule shared between all us folks who work with eggs. No sayin' what's inside." He gave a playful grin towards the boy. "Ruins the surprise, don't it?"

"I guess..."

"Hoohoo. Well, Travis my boy, don't worry 'bout it too much. Between you and me, there's plenty o' ways to get a good idea of what's inside."

"Like what?" He asked, looking towards the egg. "I mean, I guess there's the color..."

"That's right, but some are a bit harder to tell, aren't they? Another indicator isn't just appearances, though. There's smell, texture, all o' that."

"Smell?" Travis looked incredulous, even as Ella leaned forward to sniff at the nearest one.

"Oh, sure. The most obvious is probably grass types. Or fire types. I'm sure you could imagine what those smell like."

"Huh... never thought of that." Travis nodded.

"Mmmhm. Not only that, but-" and then the ground shook, as they both heard the roar that came from outside. "Oh what in blazes? Sounds like one o' the Pokemon left behind is causing a ruckus."

"Does that happen often?"

"No, but it'd be better if it didn't happen at all! C'mon, son, let's go before someone or somethin' gets hurt." He looked towards the eggs worriedly.

The point wasn't missed to Travis. "Let's go, Ella." The psychic nodded to him as he carried her out the door and toward the back of the daycare. A large fenced out area of field, water, and grass on the edge of the city.

"Oof, gettin' too old for this... what in the world's goin' on out here!?" Bernard planted a hand on his back as he looked towards the source of the noise. A couple of people were surrounding a Rhyhorn who seemed to be upset about something. Behind it was a wall with a notable dent in it. One person approached slowly, before the Ground-Rock type stomped its feet and sent him quickly backing away.

"This Rhyhorn got into a fight with one of the other Pokemon and it's gone nuts!" Another of the volunteers said.

"Well then get it back in its ball 'fore ya hurt yerself!" Bernard called.

That seemed to trigger something within the Rhyhorn, as the mention of a Pokeball sent it running, nearly running right over another volunteer that leaped out of the way. "We're trying but it just keeps running away!"

Travis noted the rest of the Pokemon in the daycare, mostly younger looking ones from what he could tell, hiding from the large and angry Ground type. "What should we do?"

"Well, we gotta calm it down before it really hurts someone. Either that or get it to stop movin' so we can recall it." Bernard grunted.

The solution was clear to Travis. "How about I distract it? I think I've got a good Pokemon for it."

"Heh, look at you, volunteerin'." Bernard joked, before nodding. "Go for it, but be careful."

Travis nodded. "The other Pokemon's trainer isn't here, but I guess this is your first real battle..." He muttered as he fished out the Pokeball containing his partner for the job. "Alright, go for it, R-"

"It's coming this way!" Bernard shouted. It was true. Rhyhorn had suddenly started charging for Travis. He could only imagine that it was confusing the Pokeball he held with its own. "For goodness sake, boy! Lead it _away_ from the building with all the eggs in it!"

Travis didn't need to be told twice. He waved the Pokeball in the air and started running off to the side, away from the daycare building. The Rhyhorn tried to correct its angle, but eventually had to stop since it could no longer turn mid run to get at Travis. Instead, it focused on him as he moved towards one of the larger sidewalls.

The boy caught his breath a little. "Alright, let's try that again..." He shook his head, adjusting his glasses. "Go for it, Robin!" he called out, tossing the Pokeball.

The green, rosebud-like Pokemon materialized from its ball, landing on its feet. A tiny pitched chirp left it as it faced its opponent confidently and-

Oh.

That's a pretty... big, Pokemon.

Robin the Budew looked over at his new trainer, unsure. Travis only smiled and nodded. "You can do this, Robin, don't worry," he cheered. Ella hopped out from her bag and gave a meowing cheer of her own.

Well, that settled that, then. Robin turned to face the Rhyhorn, only to stumble back as he realized it was already charging right for him.

"Move off to the side!" he heard his trainer command. Well, he'd certainly try his best! With that, Robin used those stubby little legs of his and briskly ran directly to his left, evading the Rhyhorn's Bulldoze. The Rhyhorn wasn't finished, however. It stopped running and rose its legs up. "Jump out of the way!" He would do so, not liking the idea of getting crushed underneath a Pokemon mostly made of Rock. With that the tiny grass type jumped out of the way, narrowly avoiding a Stomp and landing on his face. "Okay, now get behind it and start running!"

More running? Well, this was proving to be a work out, huh...!

Robin hopped onto his feet and moved as far away from Rhyhorn as he could. "Growth!"

The grass-type stopped, catching his breath before focusing. The vines atop his head opened up as he took a moment to just... bask in the sun's rays. They felt nice, sensitive on the red and blue spots that were his exposed buds. He could feel it, his body undergoing a temporary growth, expanding all at once, all over, like a flower suddenly growing out condensed into a second.

He opened his eyes and noted that he felt taller. At least a little bit. More importantly, however, he felt stronger. Strong enough for this thing, though? He wasn't entirely certain.

"It's coming for another pass! Dodge again, then get some distance and use Growth again!" Travis commanded.

Oh, so it was like that.

Robin realized the main strategy here quickly. Luckily, Rhyhorns were fairly one-track-minded. It didn't seem to fully realize that its own main strategy of 'run at the Pokemon you don't like' wasn't particularly proving effective, which gave the tiny Pokemon plenty of time to bulk itself up and make things just a bit more even.

A few passes later and Robin was more than double his size. While that may not have been impressive by human (or most Pokemon) standards, the tiny Budew felt like a _king_ of Budews everywhere at this very moment.

"Alright, Robin! Get ready..."

Robin gave a much deeper sounding chirp of affirmation. He stood his ground as the Rhyhorn charged forward.

"Absorb!"

His body lit up in green before his buds opened, the lights coalescing to the tip of his vines before shooting out towards Rhyhorn, striking it right on its horn and surrounding the Ground-Rock type. The Pokemon twitched before giving a growl, and then suddenly tripped over its own feet as its energy seemed to leave its body.

Absorb was normally rather weak, but coming from a plus sized Budew, it certainly seemed to leave behind a sluggish Rhyhorn who had trouble getting back onto its feet. Meanwhile, Robin shuddered as the energy all came back to him. Any scratches or exhaustion he had from his dodging seemed to disappear.

Travis looked towards the Rhyhorn, before nodding and turning towards the volunteers. "Quick! Recall it!"

The volunteers stood there, before one bopped the other next to him. He stammered and reached into his pocket, pulling out a pokeball and tossing it at Rhyhorn before it could get its bearings and start charging again.

Once the Pokemon was gone, everyone collectively gave a sigh of relief. Travis moved over and smiled, kneeling down to pet Robin under his vines. "Good job, Robin! I knew you could handle it on your own!"

Ella hopped out from her perch to give Robin her own congratulations, as well as look over the bigger looking Budew. She wryly noted how he was suddenly taller than her.

"Travis, my boy." The trainer in question left his Pokemon to chat and turned around, seeing Bernard. The old man rose an arm and suddenly slammed it onto Travis shoulder before laughing. "That was great! Really great! And you say you're no volunteer! I say you definitely meet qualifications! Nice quick thinkin' there! Might have to steal you away as an errand boy from the big wigs over at the Foundation!"

"Eheh... it wasn't any trouble." Travis nervously laughed, wincing at the man's surprisingly strong grip on his shoulder. "Sorry, I'm flattered, but I'm not really an errand boy. I'm kind of on a journey..."

"Darn, s'shame. I can tell ya got the passion and mind for a real champ at raisin' Pokemon." Bernard gave a hearty laugh. "That reminds me, come on back inside. I got somethin' for the hero of the daycare."

Travis blinked, then followed after, recalling Robin and kneeling down to let Ella climb back into his bag before heading inside.

...

"Are you really sure I can have this, Mister Bernard?" Travis looked down at the egg in its container uncertainly. "Better yet... are you really sure I _should_ have it? I mean, I've never raised an egg before, and I'm still a novice..."

"Boy, in all my years, I've developed an instinct or two. And one o' those instincts tell me when someone is good enough to raise an egg." Bernard crossed his arms, smirking confidently. "You got heart, and you care about Pokemon, so that makes you okay on my book regardless of anythin' else."

"But still, I can just... have it?" Travis looked up from the pinkish-purple and green egg.

"Eyup. Eggs hatch faster if they're surrounded by Pokemon that can help raise it. 'Sides, if it just hatched here we'd just have to send it to a shelter or release it in the wild." Bernard gave an old, warm smile. "And it ain't as hard as you think. Just treat it gently and keep it warm."

Travis frowned, looking thoughtfully down at the egg. After a moment, he nodded. "Alright, I'll take it. Thank you, Mister Bernard."

"Think nothin' of it. An' good luck at the gym." He laughed. "If yer ever back in Ricota or around, be sure to pay us a visit again, eh?"

"I will!" Travis nodded. He carefully moved the egg and its capsule into his bag, where Ella complained, no doubt about the lack of space. With a sigh, he lifted the Espurr up and held her in his arms. "Sorry, Ella. Priority seating." He said simply, eliciting a complaining meow from the little psychic. "Bye, Mister Bernard." He gave a wave before heading out of the daycare as the old man and the receptionist waved him off.

"Sweet kid. I can tell he's goin' places." Bernard chuckled. He winced and lowered his arm, rubbing his shoulder.

"Getting sore, boss?" the receptionist asked in concern.

"Mg... body just ain't what it used to be nowadays."

"You should go sit down. Don't worry, I'll handle things out here!"

"Phew... yeah, alright. Call me if anythin' else excitin' happens." Bernard murmured, heading off into the back.

It was an hour later when Travis arrived in front of the Ricota City gym. The map on his Pokedex told him this was the right place, and sure enough the sign in front confirmed it.

 _ **RICOTA-FIT**_

 **Home of the Ricota City Gym!**

 **Gym Leader: Hevelin**

" _ **The heart who gets others pumping"**_

"Alright Ella, are you ready for this?" He asked the Espurr scooped in his arms. The Pokemon gave a purr, which he took for a yes.

They headed through the glass doors, with the receptionist giving them a smile. "Hello! Are you here for..." she looked at the boy and Espurr pair, raising an eyebrow. "Sorry. Are you here for a class? You're a bit early. Unless you're a member?" She asked, looking at her computer and then back to Travis.

"No, I'm here for a gym challenge. This is my first badge attempt. Is the gym leader available?" He said.

"Oh, another first timer today... I'm getting some deja vu... oh, sorry, nevermind, may I have your license?"

Travis nodded and handed over his license. The young woman typed at her computer for a moment before standing up, placing his license on the counter. "Give me a minute while I get your badge case." She turned and started heading out...

Just in time to nearly bump into a young looking woman with long, wet aqua hair and a towel around her neck. "Whoa there, Linny, what's up?" The woman laughed.

"O-oh, Hevelin! Um, you have another challenger today. I was getting their case..." 'Linny' explained.

"Wow, I'm popular today!" Hevelin grinned, moving around the flustered receptionist and going over to Travis. "So you're the challenger, eh?"

"That's right. My name's Travis!" He nodded confidently.

"Travis... nice, nice, good name! Say, you got an Espurr, huh? There was a trainer here who also had one. Not to mention she looked like you, and also happened to be here for the first time..." she mused jokingly.

"That was my sister." Travis nodded, laughing.

"Oh, good. It would have been weird if you were actually her in disguise coming in again for some reason." She teased, before breaking out into laughter. "Well, you're probably excited to get started, right?" After his nod, she gave an infectiously energetic grin, looking over to 'Linny', "You can just have the badge case ready down here while we get the fight going, Linny." She then looked back to Travis. "C'mon, let's head up!"

"Today's looking like a pretty good day, I gotta say!" Hevelin laughed, grinning to Travis.

"Why's that?" the boy responded, looking around the gym that looked... well, much like a gym, as they headed down the hall.

"I get to take on not one, but _two_ first-timers! That, like, never happens!" She laughed. "One is rare enough! Newbies always steer pretty clear of me, you know? Like, before today, you know when the last challenger with less than two badges came around? A whole month!"

"Huh... well, I guess Fighting Types are pretty intimidating..." Travis went over the knowledge he had of the type in his head. High damage and sturdy all around, they made for pretty tough opponents, or at least risky to go against unprepared.

"Yeah, that's exactly it! A real shame, too! Something about being the first challenge for a trainer, the very first hurdle... there's something special about that, yanno?" She grinned.

"Well, I wouldn't know, since I'm on the other side... although I am pretty excited." Travis admitted.

"Heh! Good! Good to hear! Great, even! Confidence already gets you some points with me!" Hevelin stood in front of a door, turning around towards Travis. "So, ya ready?"

Travis took a deep breath, looking over to Ella. The Espurr looked back at her trainer and nodded, determination in her purple eyes. With that, he looked back to Hevelin. "I'm ready."

The aqua-haired lady smirked, crossing her arms. "Well then! Trainer Travis! I don't think I've properly introduced myself! I am Hevelin of the Leazon Pokemon League! My specialty is Fighting-Type, where power, speed, and going all-out are just the name of the game! If you think you're ready, I accept your challenge!" With a dramatic flair, she opened the doors behind her, revealing the large arena within.

She looked back to the boy, grinning enthusiastically. "Hope you're prepared, cuz it's showtime!"

 _Travis- Current Party_

 _Ella, Espurr (F), level 11_

 _Robin, Budew (M), level 10_

 _?_

 _?_

 _?_

 _*Egg Watch: A Pinkish-Purple and Green Egg with a lovely smell. It looks as though this Egg will take a long time yet to hatch._

 **-End of Chapter 4(Side G)-**

* * *

 **Side: Un-1**

The phone rang twice as the man stood in his office. He stared at the folder atop his desk, idly flipping through the pages within before the one on the other end responded. "Yeah, it's me. Branch R, 32, Division 4."

...

"Give me the bad news. How much was stolen?" he scowled as he sat on the desk, a hand reaching up to rub the bridge of his nose.

"I see. Yes. No, as long as the data itself wasn't taken it shouldn't be much concern. It's too volatile for any real examination on its own. I doubt he plans on actually using it himself, either."

"No, I don't think that's a good play. We'll draw too much attention, questions will be thrown around."

"Yeah."

He smirked, crossing an arm and leaning back. "Not really my problem, not my branch or expertise, here. One of the top brass will probably figure out what to do."

"Just don't draw any attention. It's too early to go into the next phase of the plan. Just make sure the things worth stealing are impossible to steal."

He quirked an eyebrow, then sighed and shut his eyes. "The police will probably be on a wild goose chase looking for him, then. We can't cause a scene by trying to capture him ourselves. Not yet, anyway. Revealing the existence of them before we're ready will do more harm than good even if we can spin it into a publicity stunt."

"...Yeah, alright. We'll move what we have to the other facility. We can't give anyone, not just that punk, a way in again."

The conversation reached its end and he hung up, putting the phone aside and letting out a groan. "I miss being a boring pencil pusher and slacking off. What a bunch of trouble for a "promotion"..."

He looked back to his phone, picking it up and going through the menus, finally settling on a photo. "This better be worth it in the end, old man..."

 **-End of Side Story-**


	7. Chapter 5: Ricota Stars

**Chapter 5: Ricota Stars**

Some would say that it was odd for someone as young as Hevelin to become a gym leader. Certainly, she wasn't the youngest gym leader in the world, but unlike other regions where gym leaders could be scouted, or earned the title through inheritance, Leazon specifically required applications for all new gyms or changes in management.

As such, one would ask why she would take up the job when, arguably, she had a lot more going for her. She was a trainer that showed prowess and could have taken on the League, possibly placed reasonably high in the tournament, maybe even won it. She was also a track star who probably could have gotten a few scholarships or competed in national competitions.

The thing was, however, Hevelin, fighting type gym leader of Leazon, found she wasn't much of a fan of competition. Or, at least, competing herself.

More than that, she loved training, helping others improve and climb higher. Inspiring others, making them stronger, that was her passion. She had first discovered her passion while training her Pokemon. After that it was only natural that she wanted to apply it to others.

So instead of challenging the Pokemon League after collecting her 8 badges, she started a gym! Not the League-type of gym, just a regular one. She was a coach and fitness trainer and that was that. Of course, the amount of young trainers who ended up coming to Ricota to fight her thinking she was the _other_ kind of gym eventually inspired her to apply as a Gym Leader as well.

Really, it was the perfect setup. While some Gym Leaders and plenty of trainers in Leazon didn't seem to understand what the true purpose of the gyms were, Hevelin understood completely. The gyms were all about testing, teaching, and improving trainers to get them ready for the real deal that was the League. Being a gym leader combined all of her passions into one convenient package, and the fact that she got to represent Fighting Types AND her home city for the whole region only made it better!

The challenger in front of her now only made her feel she made the right choice even more.

"Alright, Gladys, are ya ready? I'm comin' at ya with all I got... as much as a no-badge challenge will allow me, anyway!" Hevelin snickered, enlarging one of her prepared Pokeballs.

Gladys looked down to Lyrica, the little red and yellow bug looking a bit tired out in her arms. Understandable, considering her big strategy at the end there involved getting smacked around by a Meditite a bit. The girl only had one item use left...

She decided it was better not to risk it. Take a page from Travis' book, maybe. She brought out a potion and sprayed it on the Kricketot, the bug looking a little surprised before giving a pleased chirp as it's refreshing effects immediately went over her body.

"Alright, I'm ready!" Gladys called, setting Lyrica down and heading back to her spot on the field. "Better have that badge ready too, cause I'm walking out with it!"

"Hah! Confidence is good, but don't get too excited yet!" Hevelin retorted, although she couldn't hide the grin on her face as she threw out her Pokeball. "First up, Tyrogue!"

The Pokemon was one Gladys didn't recognize. A pale purple shorty with some bumps on its head. The bandage-y looking pattern on its skin and overall punchy look definitely made it look like a fighting type, though. As it landed on the floor it took one look at Lyrica and immediately got into a fighting position. "Ro!"

"Alright, Lyrica, be careful here. Use growl and weaken it first!" Gladys commanded.

Lyrica was all for that strategy. If this guy hit as hard as the last one, she would be okay with fixing that issue beforehand. Her antenna began to bob and collide together as it chirped out a light tone.

"Tyrogue, get in there and Low Sweep 'er!" Hevelin commanded the purple bruiser. Tyrogue didn't wait for a response, running forward.

Lyrica was a bit surprised by the fighter's sudden bullrush. He was ignoring her cute little signal for the most part and despite some slight hesitation it wasn't stopping him from delivering a low sliding kick at her stubby legs. She hopped above the first kick, trying to put some distance between them, but he easily closed the distance, spinning around to extend his other leg in a wide swooping motion as soon as she landed.

The result was her stubby feet getting kicked out from underneath her and her landing turning a bit more rough than she would have liked.

Lyrica noted the pain in her right foot as she hopped back up and faced the Pokemon. "Struggle bug!" Gladys shouted out, the bug type immediately letting out a wave of green shards while her opponent was too close to react in time.

Tyrogue rose his arms up to block most of the shards from hitting his face. He was hit with the full brunt of the attack, those buggy needles poking into his skin. If it bothered him, he didn't show it, however. Lyrica at least took the small distraction as a chance to get a bit further away. As much as her stubby feet allowed her, which wasn't much even without her having to favor one over the other.

"Tyrogue, don't let 'em get away! Keep up the pressure and Rock Slide!" Hevelin called.

"Bide, Lyrica!" Gladys quickly called. The Kricketot seemed to be having trouble moving, so there was no way it could dodge the way faster Pokemon. Lyrica seemed to realize this as much as her trainer did as she immediately curled up and focused. The white glow emanated from her body just as the fighting type stomped the ground, summoning sizeable chunks of pavement before tossing them right at her.

Gladys was a bit worried as Lyrica had a head on collision with a rock the size of the bug itself, before sighing in relief at the sight of the Pokemon still curled up and glowing, the light brighter and more intense.

 _Darn, thought for sure that'd take it down even with Bide... That little bug's got a heart of steel._ Hevelin snickered. "Brace yourself, Tyrogue!" She called.

The Scuffle Pokemon did so, well aware of what his opponent was doing. He was as surprised as Hevelin was that the bug didn't go down yet, although considering his own tendency to not know when to quit, he certainly had no right to complain, did he?

Lyrica felt really really sore, but she also felt really really powerful. In a moment, that power felt the need to release and she obliged, her entire form flashing as its stored energy unleashed.

Tyrogue shielded his face and vitals with his arms as the bug launched forward far faster than he could dodge or respond. It was a head on collision, one that made him slide backwards and caused a sharp pain in his arms that vibrated across the rest of his body.

In a moment all the energy was gone and Lyrica bounced back away from the Tyrogue. Her entire body felt like it had been run over by a herd of Deerling. And that Tyrogue was still not down! Last time, Bide had taken out her opponent, but this time even with the power of a Rock Slide he was kicking!

Of course, Tyrogue was a lot worse off than he showed. He had to fight himself to not fall over and look like a chump in front of his trainer. "Tyrogue, another Rock Slide!" Hevelin shouted.

"Ro!" The Scuffle Pokemon shouted, stomping the ground and causing another several chunks of rock to launch outwards.

"Struggle bug, Lyrica! As much as you can! Don't let him throw those!" Hevelin called.

"Krii?" The bug type responded. As much as she could? What, did that mean as many at once as she could summon or as many volleys as she could launch before getting a rock to the face again?

"Krii!" Lyrica called out confidently. After a moment of deliberation she decided that both would be nice. The result was dozens of tiny itchy needles shooting in waves and waves in the vague direction of her target. Tyrogue went wide-eyed before shielding his face with an arm and tossing the mass of debris towards the bug type wildly.

Only one side managed to hit their target, and it was the side that had slightly more time to aim before getting pelted. Lyrica fired her small hampering stingers as fast as she could before she got too tired to focus enough to summon more. This translated to about 3 waves of wildly firing Struggle Bugs in Tyrogue's direction.

On the one hand, most of the stingers didn't hit him. On the other, he was always getting hit.

"Alright, alright, I think that's that~" Hevelin rubbed her head as she looked at the fallen over fighter. The pale Pokemon was well and fully knocked out, even ignoring all the stingers covering his arm and body. As it turned out, getting stung a dozen times really affected your aim.

Lyrica gave a chirp of relief as Tyrogue was recalled. "Good work, Lyrica! Take a rest!" Gladys motioned. The Kricketot definitely liked the sound of that, the light of her Pokeball catching her just as she flopped over in exhaustion.

"Alright, alright, 1 for your side! I don't think I've ever seen that many Struggle Bugs at once, it was kinda nuts!" Hevelin grinned.

"I don't think Lyrica's good for any more than that, though..." Gladys admitted, pocketing the bug's Pokeball.

"Well, " the Gym Leader laughed, gripping the other Pokeball, "you'll just have to make sure ya don't have to use her again, then! Let's go, Mienfoo!"

The Pokemon summoned was one that Gladys certainly never heard of before, a yellow Pokemon with some arms that looked like they were in some baggy red sleeves and some rather intense looking eyebrows. As it landed it immediately went into a trained stance.

"Whoa, that's a neat looking Pokemon!" Gladys smiled, fishing out her camera and snapping a shot of the yellow fighting type.

"Hehe, I know, right? Mienfoo's a real fighter!" Hevelin smiled proudly. "Plus, just look at her!"

"She looks like she'd be in a movie with that pose!"

"She's the real deal, though! And isn't she just adorable too? I dunno why, but I just love her eyebrows–"

"FOO!" Mienfoo shouted to her trainer, cheeks flushed as she turned around to face her.

"Ahaha, right, right, battle~" Hevelin snickered, putting a hand on her hip. "Alright, what's your pick?"

Gladys giggled to herself before pointing forward. "Go get 'em, Jam."

"Es." The Pokemon mewled before hopping off from his trainer's shoulder and back onto the field.

"First move's yours~" Hevelin motioned politely as her Pokemon moved back into her stance.

"Gee, thanks~" Gladys stated, before smirking. "Jam, Confusion!" She commanded.

Jam's ears twitched, opening only slightly as the bundle of psychic energy prepared itself for launch.

"Fake Out!" Hevelin shouted. The Espurr didn't have much time to react as his opponent shot forwards right up close to him, her paws outstretched to her sides.

In one fluid motion she brought both of them down together in a double slap, smacking Jam's cheeks and leaving a small sting. More importantly, however, the sudden surprise attack to his face caused the cat Pokemon to shut its eyes and flinch backwards, its psychic attack disrupted.

"Hey!" Gladys frowned, realizing just why she was allowed to go first. "Jam, use Scratch!"

Jam shook his head and then brought out his claws. She was too close for him to get a good use of Confusion out without her reacting again, so Scratch it is!

The Martial Artist evaded one swipe, and then another, before getting grazed by a sudden follow-up strike that left a nice claw mark on her fur pelt. It wasn't an impressive strike by any means, but it was damage nonetheless.

In retaliation, the yellow Pokemon kicked low, aiming for the cat's legs and hitting her target nicely, sweeping his legs out underneath him and causing him to topple over.

"Hey, you didn't even tell it to use a move!" Gladys called, although her surprise wasn't entirely negative.

"Hehe, it's good to teach your Pokemon to use moves on its own sometimes." Hevelin crossed her arms, shrugging her shoulders. "Makes it harder to come up with a counter strategy if your opponent doesn't _hear_ you call out what you're using~"

Gladys nodded in understanding, before focusing on the battle. Low Sweep. That'd mess with Jam's legs just like it did Lyrica, huh? "Jam, get up, use, uh... the thing and get some distance!" She tried.

The Espurr stood up, giving Gladys a look of confusion. She helplessly motioned forward while pointing at her ears. Hevelin giggled.

Jam blinked and decided to just go with Confusion while everyone was distracted by his trainer's antics. It wasn't an impressive blast, he couldn't risk charging it up for anything big or fancy with the slappy yellow Pokemon still close by, but it was enough to launch the Fighting-type back a few feet, the psychic turbulence having an extra kick to it against the Fighting type's psi-sensitive body.

"There we go! The thing!" Gladys cheered. "Do it again!"

Jam charged up a bigger push of psychic power. Hevelin, however, was quick to react. "Take cover, Mienfoo!" She shouted out. In response, the Fighting-type quickly dashed to the side and hid behind one of the large chunks of rock left behind from the previous battle. The psionic wave hit the block of pavement and nothing else, leaving the fighting type no worse for wear while the block only moved slightly in response.

Gladys blinked, realizing the state the room was in, with several holes in the floor and chunks of debris scattered over the field. "Hey, aren't we on the second floor?"

"Haha, don't worry about it, the floors are thick and we don't have any pipes going through this part just for this reason!" She said, stomping the floor proudly. "'Sides, repairs come out of the League funds!"

"You should see what she does when just 4 badgers show up..." Trevor mentioned idly from his seat on the stand, before chugging from his water bottle.

"We had an outside ring too but it's being renovated so it's just the two indoor ones." Lisa explained.

"I kind of regret not coming with more badges," Gladys mentioned, just imagining what the gym leader's more advanced teams were like.

"Aw, don't say that! C'mon, I never get to do 0 badges!" Hevelin whined. "Anyway, Mienfoo, get in close and Pound 'em!"

"Confusion-er, the thing, Jam!" Gladys shouted.

Mienfoo was used to her trainer getting distracted by banter. For the sake of not being unfair she didn't interrupt and try to get an attack in while the opponent wasn't paying attention. She was the first to react once the topic went back to the battle, leaping over her cover and charging forward at the cat Pokemon.

Jam was a bit slower on the uptake but nevertheless it prepared another wave of psionics to launch the Pokemon back.

"Detect!" Hevelin called. Mienfoo's eyes glimmered, its run slowing as it watched the Espurr intently. His psychic attack launched, but this time she was ready. Her reflexes and senses were heightened. She side-stepped the blast with ease. "Now Pound!"

"Scratch!"

She rushed forward while in return he brought out his claws. His wild swings slashed her pelt while in return she moved passed and then shoved him with an elbow. It seemed her strike had been just a bit more potent than his as the Psychic stumbled back, but she was still looking hurt herself.

"Okay, Jam! Time to bust out the secret move!" Gladys shouted. "Use... _that_ thing! The one you haven't used yet in this battle! Now!"

Mienfoo couldn't help but feel like these... code commands could use a bit more work. When she looked back at the Espurr, however, she was a bit surprised to find the Psychic looking at her with an odd expression.

It was... rather cute and innocent, the look made her falter. She was caught off guard as the Espurr approached her. "Es?~"

"M-mi...?" Mienfoo asked, a bit confused and flustered at her opponent's suddenly buddy buddy advances.

And then she got the fluffiest headbutt she had yet to experience. Her eyes had stars at the same time that they had images of grey cats as she fell over, dazed.

...

"Huh, that happened." Hevelin crossed her arms thoughtfully.

"Foo..." Her Pokemon dizzily muttered.

"Good Covet, Espurr! I knew you'd figure out what I meant!" Gladys cheered, her Pokemon looking over and giving a happy 'Purr' in response.

Hevelin sighed, recalling the fighting type. "Well, that was the first time I lost to a Covet before. Kinda refreshing! Mienfoo might be upset when she gets back from the center, though, hehehe." With a shake of her head, the gym leader stepped forward. "Well, Gladys! You beat me! And my trainers! I can't NOT give you your badge when you stomped everything I threw at ya!"

Gladys swelled with pride as she ran forward and scooped up Jam, holding the psychic up before setting him on her shoulder. With that attended to she looked back to Hevelin with a big grin.

The Gym Leader couldn't help but grin back, professionalism wasn't a requirement for gym leaders anyway. "My gym is all about endurance. You gotta be able to tell if your Pokemon can still keep going. Not every battle lets you use items, especially not in any tourneys, but out in the field you'll definitely have to give support and keep track of your little buddy's health." The teal-haired gym leader nodded sagely, reaching into her pocket and pulling out a small metal pin. She looked it over once before holding it out to Gladys.

The main shape of the badge was a green star. However, it also had an extension, several lines shooting out from the star like a speed trail. "This is the Pace Badge, proof that you've passed my test and maybe learned something from it! Take it, and keep shooting forward, champ in the making!" Hevelin gave a confident smile as Gladys took the badge.

For a while she admired the small badge. After all, it was her first. She couldn't help it and gave an excited squeal, pulling out the badge case and setting the badge inside. "Awesome!" She finally said. "Yessss! Yes yes yes! First badge! I did it! Jam, _we_ did it!" She cheered, picking up the cat and swinging him around in her arms.

Hevelin laughed, while the 'audience' grumbled. "Just remember, ya still got 7 more to go before you can go to the big leagues, 'kay?"

Gladys squeezed her starter in a hug as she turned to face Hevelin and nodded to the older woman. "I will! Don't worry, I'm aiming right for the top!"

And thus, after saying goodbye, Gladys left the gym in high spirits. As much as she wanted to celebrate and maybe call mom and dad to tell them the news, she wanted to wait until Travis had his turn. More importantly than that, though, she had 2 Pokemon in need of a trip to the Center.

She couldn't wait to see how Travis did.

* * *

And it would be a couple of hours after when Travis arrived at the gym. He stood on the challenger circle of the arena as Hevelin moved to the other side.

"Alright, Travis!" Hevelin started, fetching out a couple of Pokeballs from a machine of some kind. "This is gonna be different from your normal trainer battle. Ever have one of those?"

"Yes, I've had... one. Although, if it's going to be different, I'm not sure if prior experience will help," the boy said.

"Hahaha, don't worry, it's not gonna be super crazy or anything!~" The gym leader smiled. "Basically, we're doing something special for your test! Here's how it's gonna work!" She set down several Pokeballs in front of her, motioning to them with a dramatic flair. There were 6 in total. "I have 6 Pokemon here, as many as a trainer's allowed to carry with 'em at once! Ya get to use 2. Your goal is to last as long as ya can!"

Travis stared, eyes going a bit wide at his chances. "6 versus 2? That's... a bit intense."

Hevelin snickered. "Don't worry. Like I said, the goal here is survivin'! This is a test, not your normal battle! Dependin' on how many of my guys you take out and how long you last, that'll decide if ya get the badge or not."

He nodded along, steeling his nerves. Of course it wouldn't be straightforward. "Okay... I'm ready, then."

"Good! I'll toss my first pick, then, so make sure ya choose carefully. Remember, only 2!" After the boy gave a nod to show he got it, she picked up the first Pokeball. "Scraggy, go for it!"

Out from the Pokeball came a bipedal cream-colored lizard, it's big oval eyes wide open and teeth bared. It's belly was covered in red scales while the scales on the upper half of it's head were a dark yellow that made it look like it had a mask. A more distinguishing feature was that the Pokemon appeared to be wearing pants, loose yellow skin that covered it's legs and tail that the Pokemon had to hold up with it's hands.

Travis had a quick glance at his Pokedex, before nodding and pulling out a Pokeball. "Robin, you're up first!" He called, his tiny grass type plopping onto the field.

Hevelin nodded, before crossing her arms. "Alright. Begin! Scraggy, soften it up with a mean Leer!"

Robin had only just gotten his bearings and looked around the strange room before his eyes fell on his opponent, a weird pants wearing lizard of some kind. Evidently, said lizard wasn't friendly, considering that rather sharp look she was giving him that sent a shiver up his vines.

"Robin, stay calm, bulk up some with Growth!" Travis suggested. The Budew gave a nod and looked away from the Scraggy, focusing on his own body. The sensation of his energy gathering up within, his buds opening slightly as he focused that energy back into himself, triggering his body to grow out, just a bit.

"Keep your eye on Scraggy! It's coming, use Absorb!" The boy shouted. Robin looked back towards the Fighting type just in time to see a ball of yellow coming right at him before it met him in a powerful headbutt.

It hurt. That was suffice to say. Robin made a mental note to avoid lowering his guard like that again. For some reason, looking away from the opponent seemed like a good idea at the time.

The grass-poison type with no poison moves got up, ignoring the pain in his face/body as he focused on both the opponent. Oh, right, he was given a command too, right? "Deww!" The little rosebud Pokemon shouted confidently as his buds opened, the lights within launching out at the Scraggy.

Scraggy made an effort in trying to dodge the aura of green power, but the Budew seemed to be a bit faster when it was actually focused on the task at hand. The energy wrapped around her and she could feel herself getting a bit more sluggish from the efforts. The boosted up Absorb made her trip over her feet slightly while she got some distance.

Robin on the other hand could feel some of the aches from the previous Headbutt disappearing as her energy went back to him. He couldn't help but give a pleased smile, one which grew as his trainer cheered him on.

"Feint Attack, Scraggy!" Hevelin commanded. Robin wasn't sure what that move was, but he was certainly caught by surprise when the Scraggy just walked up to him all friendly-like.

The following sucker punch that sent him spinning was a bit less surprising. Really, the Budew was starting to get tired of only ever getting hit when he wasn't prepared for it.

"Keep calm, Robin, you have this," Travis assured him. "Use Stun Spore!"

The grass-type complied, firing off a large puff of yellow spores all around him. While Scraggy wasn't caught in it, she was forced to put some distance. "Hide behind the spores and use Absorb again!"

Robin did so, green energy launching at the surprised Scraggy and wrapping over her form. He felt a bit more energized, while on the other hand the fighting-dark type was feeling too tired to keep going.

So she didn't.

Hevelin sighed, recalling the unconscious fighter. "Not bad, not bad~ 1 down, while your Budew there is looking pretty healthy. Lucky you, bringing a Pokemon that can heal itself to a fight like this!"

"Eheh... it was coincidence, I didn't know about this until I got here."

"I wasn't accusin' ya of anything~" The gym leader giggled. She took a moment to pull a black ribbon out of her pocket, grabbing her long teal hair in a hand before wrapping the ribbon around it, tying a bow to her hair and keeping it in a ponytail. "Alright! Since I can see you're for real, let's get serious!" She bent down to grab her second Pokeball, tossing it forward. "Riolu, rough up that cute little plant with a Low Sweep!"

The little blue bipedal canine was quick on its feet after it landed, almost too quick for either Travis or Robin to get a good look at it before it hit the latter with a sliding tackle. The Budew made a surprised chirp before his face met the floor and the Riolu hopped back onto her feet, hopping in place.

"An eager one..." Travis winced. "Robin, are you alright? Get up!" He called out.

The Budew gave a quiet chirp in response before standing, although now he felt a sting on that stubby leg of his from the attack. He spun around, chirping a few cries of complaint to the black and blue Riolu. She could only offer a shrug in response before getting back into her battle stance.

"I know, right? I dunno where she gets it from!" Hevelin gave an oddly similar shrug herself, before putting a hand on her hip. "Riolu, Quick Attack!"

"I can't imagine, either..." Travis mumbled, before shaking his head and refocusing. He had to think fast. "Don't let it overwhelm you, Robin! Stun Spore, all around, slow it down!"

In perhaps a bit more of a panic than the Budew intended, he indeed released a heavy cloud of yellow spores all around him. The Riolu zipped and circled the grass-type looking for an opening, but couldn't find one that wouldn't take her straight through the spores. With perhaps some frustration, she stopped, watching the cloud-shielded tiny bud Pokemon.

Travis thought, watching the stalemate. The spore cloud wouldn't last forever, and neither would Robin. "Alright, Robin, aim to your left and fire a Stun Spore, straight ahead of you!"

"Dodge it, Riolu!" Hevelin commanded.

Riolu was no fool and didn't have to be told. She circled around the Budew, watching its yellow cloudy silhouette for movement as it fired off a thick cloud of paralysing powder.

Unplanned, however, was the fact that it didn't fire it at where she was, but instead right in front of her.

"Ri!" The canine fighter yelped in surprise as it tumbled straight through the cloud. She coughed, tripping over her feet as the numbing powder stuck to her body. Already she could feel her limbs not properly responding.

"Wh–" Hevelin stuttered, before shaking her head. "Aha. So you lied to walk me right into that, eh? How sneaky. ya sure you ain't some kinda Dark type in disguise? Am I gonna see ya poof into a Zoroark soon?" Hevelin smirked.

"I'm 100 percent human, I'm pretty certain." Travis offered. Robin puffed up rather proudly as the cloud of powder finally disappeared.

"Heh, well, either way. Don't knock us out just yet!" Hevelin shouted. "Two can play the paralysing game! Riolu, Force Palm!"

Despite its hampered movement, the Fighting-type stood. On shaky legs it stepped/stumbled towards Robin who, thanks to his injury, couldn't move away in time before the blue canine's paw, alit with energy, punched forward.

A light and gust of energy shot out the Budew's back as a stinging and numbing pain echoed through his body. After a second, the grass-type toppled over, his body not responding quite right.

Travis grimaced, watching Robin struggle to get back on his feet. Considering the time it took him to do so, it was clear he had been paralysed. He wasn't knocked out, but leaving him in the battle with the amount of debilitating effects on him would just lead to that anyway. "Robin, return!" He called out, recalling the Budew. He released a deep breath, before looking over to his shoulder. "Your turn, Ella."

The Espurr nodded, before hopping onto the battlefield and giving her own confident pose. She certainly wasn't looking to disappoint. It was nice that her first opponent was already softened up for her.

"Second time I have to deal with an Espurr today, eh..." Hevelin mused, before chuckling and pointing forward. "Try and hit her with a Low Sweep, Riolu!"

"Confusion!" Travis commanded. Ella nodded, giving a small 'Es' and holding her paws outwards before she focused. The sphere of psychic power formed before her, building to the size of her head quickly and then launching forward. Riolu, unfortunately for the little blue fighter, could hardly move. The relatively weak psionics hit her and launched her even farther away from her target.

"Hrm," Hevelin put a hand to her chin, frowning, "Yeah, alright. Let's spare her the punishment and just say she's out. Good job, Riolu, you're gettin' an extra poffin tonight!" She took a moment to laugh at the fighting type's tired yet excited cheer from her flopped over position on the floor before recalling her, quickly picking up her third Pokeball. "So, 2 down for me, and 1 o' your picks aren't looking so hot. How ya feelin'?"

"Nervous." Travis admitted. "I'm not certain if I would have preferred a more... obvious challenge."

"Just do your best. I think I'm gettin' a pretty good idea of your skills." Hevelin nodded, before looking down at her third Pokeball, then tossing it forward. "Breloom, take the stage!"

"Bre bre!" The mushroom Pokemon called out happily before landing on her red feet. Ella took a step back as she looked over the green and beige Pokemon in surprise.

A part of her wished she had gone first.

"That's... an evolved Pokemon, isn't it? Isn't that a little much...?" Travis questioned.

"Ya think so? Breloom here's just from my 2 or 3 badge team most of the time!" Hevelin laughed. "Besides! I told ya before. Your goal here is survival! Just cuz I have 6 Pokemon on my side doesn't mean you'll get to fight em all! It'd ruin the whole point if I just gave ya 6 tiny guys you could stomp over with one flying or psychic or fairy type, right?"

The boy figured he couldn't argue with that logic, nor did he want to. "Alright, Ella, just focus and do your best. Start with a Confusion!"

"Mach Punch!" Hevelin countered.

Travis went wide-eyed, "Nevermind the confusion, dodge that!", he blurted out. Ella was quick to drop her focus on the psychic attack and settle for using those tiny cat reflexes of hers to not get punched in the face.

For the most part, it worked, although that Breloom was incredibly fast. It felt like before one punch finished she was already moving in for another. Ella's tiny size certainly did her a favor in helping her evade the many swings coming her way.

However, she wasn't relenting. Ella was definitely on the defensive, and her psychic powers and small spritely size would only help her dodge for so long. Travis acted quick. "Under her, Ella! Run under and then confusion from behind!"

The Espurr decided to go along with the plan if only for the fact that it was **a** plan. Instead of hopping away from the Breloom she hopped forward with her next dodge, then scurried underneath the punchy mushroom between her legs and hopped out of the way from her tail when it tried to slam down on her.

She span around and shot a ball of psychic energy wildly her way, striking the mushroom right in the face and sending it stumbling back just slightly. It was more effective than it could have been, but the gap in power certainly made it less potent.

And here she was hoping that cool move would have been enough.

"Leech seed, Breloom!" The gym leader proclaimed.

"Get some distance, wait for it to shoot, then dodge it!" Travis countered.

Both Pokemon did as they were told, the Mushroom aiming the seed with her tail while Ella ran away, then quickly side stepped when the seed shot out, skidding across empty floor and releasing its vines to wrap around nothing.

"Drop some Stun Spores, Breloom!"

Travis winced. Ella evaded the clouds of yellow powder as they came. Again, they were on the defensive.

He realized what she was doing. "I get it. Leer, Low Sweep, Force Palm, Leech Seed, Stun Spore. All these debilitating moves..."

"Hehe, guilty~ Pretty sneaky for a Fighting type gym, eh?~"

"I'd say so." Travis nodded wearily. "Makes it really hard to last long."

"Kinda the point~ Ya get points for figuring it out, though. But, still! Mach Punch, Breloom!" Hevelin called.

And again, the Grass-Fighting type launched at Ella with impressive footwork and laid out on the punches. Unlike last time, the Espurr was unlucky enough to get hit by one before she had any time to react, sending the psychic lobbing through the air and landing a distance away. Luckily, she managed to not land right inside a pile of numbing powder.

"Use a bunch of Confusions, Ella, don't let it get close!"

"You know you can't let that happen, Breloom!"

"Bre!" She shouted in response, running forward while the Espurr, perhaps a bit shakily, started shooting Confusion after Confusion at the Breloom. This made it a bit simple for the fighting-type to dodge the psychic attacks.

So Ella decided to change it up a little.

The advantage of a psychic type was being able to shape their attacks rather easily. She had mostly been firing in more orb like shapes. This time she fired in a ring.

As she hoped, Breloom stumbled as the psionic influence shot through her body.

To Ella's relief, the punch happy Pokemon started stumbling a lot more. Who would have thought, Confusion actually causing confusion! That felt like the first time it happened for her!

That relief was a bit short lived when the Breloom happily stumbled towards her and kicked her.

"You alright, Ella?" Travis asked with a wince as the Espurr got up. "What move was that?" He asked an amused Hevelin.

"Ehh... I think that's just called random flailing. Confusion's kinda crazy like that." She scratched her head. "Breloom! Focus on whatever grey blob you see!"

Breloom did so, and quite effectively. She was an unstoppable force that kept bashing various extremities against whatever object she thought was moving. Most of the time this was the floor, another time she attacked the stands, and a few times it was a flustered psychic cat.

Ella was reduced to running away and firing Confusions at the madMushroom. Not the most elegant of strategies, but it worked. The poor cat was tiring out rather quickly when it came to dodging.

She wasn't expecting the Leech Seed, however. Those were a bit harder to dodge when your opponent wasn't even aiming.

Travis, for not the first time of the battle, winced as his Espurr fell over, wrapped in vines that sapped away at her energy.

"Urgh..." The boy stared at the scene, adjusting his glasses for a moment as he tried to work out a plan.

He didn't really have any. Breloom would probably snap out of her confusion soon, Ella was now seeded, Robin was still paralyzed and his only moves would do nothing to Breloom.

He sighed.

"Alright, I give up," he admitted in defeat.

"Oho? No last second cool strategy?" Hevelin gave a softer smile. "Breloom, pause for a bit. Try and get your head together." She motioned to her confused companion.

"None that I can think of. Ella's not going to last long, and Robin is both already injured and has nothing to use on Breloom." Travis reasoned. "It'd just be putting them both through unnecessary pain with nothing to get from it to keep going."

Hevelin was silent for a moment, then gave a satisfied nod. "Good reasoning," she assured him, recalling Breloom. "That's that, then!"

Travis moved over to his Pokemon. "Rest for a while, Ella." He smiled to the mewing cat before recalling her to her Pokeball. He stood up straight and faced the gym leader. "So, how did I do?"

Hevelin gave an audible 'hmmm', putting a hand to her chin. "Well, let's see... you got 2 down and did a pretty solid amount of damage to Breloom here, and you used some clever tricks. Not bad for a no badger!" She nodded with a cheeky grin. "What's really important, though, is that you knew your limit. Not many new trainers realize that."

Travis' mood brightened considerably after hearing that. Hevelin noticed his excitement and smiled wide, reaching into her pocket. "My gym is all about endurance. Sometimes it's not about going all out right at the start, sometimes you gotta conserve your energy. More importantly, ya need to know when to quit. Pushing yourself or your Pokemon too hard doesn't work like it does in the movies, someone can get really hurt."

With that, she held out her badge, a bright green star with a shooting trail of lines. "For understanding that, Travis, I'm happy to reward ya the Pace Badge! Keep up with the training and strategizing and you'll really go far, champ in the making!"

The sigh of relief Travis gave was mostly involuntarily as he took the badge, admiring it and weighing it in his hand. He gripped it tightly, nodding. "I-I will, thank you!"

Hevelin gave a wide grin. "Good luck with those other 7 badges. Make sure ya talk to Linny at the front to get your case."

"Yes, of course!" Travis nodded, trying to keep calm even as inside he was bouncing in joy.

"Hehe. Come back again sometime for a rematch, I wanna see what kinda crazy awesome team you build! Same goes for your sister! Or, if, you know, ya want a membership or somethin'."

"Yes, I-er, well, I'll keep it in mind." Travis cleared his throat, nodding to the Gym Leader before heading out of the arena. He wanted to hurry to the Center, both to get his Pokemon checked out and to see if Gladys was there.

Hevelin giggled. Being a gym leader really was the right choice.

If only more of them did sign up, though.

 _Gladys- Current Party  
_ _Jam, Espurr (M), level 11  
_ _Lyrica, Kricketot (F), level 8_

 _~x~_

 _Travis- Current Party  
_ _Ella, Espurr (F), level 12  
_ _Robin, Budew (M), level 11  
_ _*Egg Watch: A Pinkish-Purple and Green Egg with a lovely smell. It looks as though this Egg will take a long time yet to hatch._

 **-End of Chapter 5-**


	8. Chapter 6: Green and Serene

**CHAPTER 6: Green and Serene**

"Hummmmm. So you made friends with some random science guy and old guy and got an egg?" Gladys peeked down at Travis' bag, where his unexpected new companion was safely tucked away in it's container, pouting slightly. "Mannn. You had a lot more fun waiting for your match. I just stared at stuff at a museum for the whole day after that."

"Eh... well, it's not like I was really expecting all that to happen." Travis offered. "And I wouldn't really say I 'made friends', that man just insisted on rewarding me after I gave him those files. I didn't even get his name, but I guess he was important."

"Hum. Honestly, bro, I gotta play a bit of the responsible sister and ask why you'd follow random guys around without even asking for their names, but I guess as long as it worked out this time..." The girl didn't seem very satisfied as she looked on dreamily. "I should do more errands for mom and dad too if it'd get me something like an egg..."

"You should do that anyway."

"-So!~ Back home we gooo, huh?~ Any fun detours on Route 1 we didn't see last time?~" She said, running ahead of Travis and turning around to watch him.

The twins had finished with Ricota City. After announcing their respective wins and calling their mom, they were on the road back to Pemolo Town. It was a bit strange to already be going home in their adventure, but there was little they could do. Unless they took a boat, the only way to the rest of the region from Ricota was through the crossroads of Pemolo.

They had stayed in Ricota for another day to take in the sights and see what else there was to see, but the tourism of the port city didn't have much to offer two aspiring trainers. And so, today, they were back on the road.

"Hmm... we've already seen the flower fields and camp sites, so unless we want to venture further off the path and add another day to our trip, I don't think so." Travis said, looking at the map on his tablet.

"Ehh... maybe some other time, I feel like going somewhere totally new already!~" Gladys cheered.

"Straight home it is, then..." He affirmed, continuing his relaxed walk. The more excitable twin eventually slowed down to match his pace, glancing at his map on occasion. They walked in silence for awhile, with nothing much to say between them that they hadn't already discussed yesterday or the day before.

"Next time you get an egg get me one, too."

"That's not how it works."

"You sure they're home? They might be at work, you know." Gladys watched her brother knock on the door for the third time.

"Mom said she'd be waiting, and when it comes to work hours with her..." Travis didn't really need to finish his sentence.

Both twins understood fully, the benefits of owning a business and the miracles of a mother who would do whatever she liked regardless of how it'd impact said business.

At worst she'd just make their father do all the work again while she got to greet her children.

"We have keys, so we CAN just go in ourselves, you know." Gladys crossed her arms, the feline on her shoulder looking at her before doing the same as best he could with his own small limbs.

"It's easier if she comes to us instead of the other way around."

"What's that supposed to-"

The door opened, finally, as Travis stepped to the side. The red-headed matriarch of the family came bursting through the door with a hearty shout of "Congratulations!~", her arms out to claim an unlucky victim.

Thanks to his own planning, Travis evaded this fate, moving his bag and Ella out of the way of the woman's charge and instead watching her nearly barrel their twins over from a powerful hug.

The mother of two liked to put on a calm, charming face when she was in 'work mode', but she was an easily excitable woman, most likely where Gladys got her own reckless energy from.

"Eeeee, my beloved children have come back to see their lonely old momma!~ It's only been a few days but I already couldn't stand it!" She sniffled, squeezing Gladys and an unfortunate Jam together in her arms.

"Mooom... l-leggo!" Gladys shouted, squirming in her mother's powerful grip.

"Honey, let the children come in and put their bags down before you embarrass them, at least." A voice spoke behind Travis. A large, toughly built man stood at the doorway with an exasperated look on his face.

"Ah, dad! You're both here?" Travis blinked while Ella stared at the taller human who was apparently her trainer's father. The resemblance... wasn't really much there, as far as she could tell.

The man smirked at Travis, putting a hand on his head and ruffling his hair some. "You two left before I got to see you off last time, so I definitely wasn't going to miss this time!" He laughed. Despite that, he couldn't help but give a slightly annoyed look. "Of course, I left your mother to look after the front desk, but she followed me anyway."

"It's fine, it's fine, this is just a lunch break, it's a weekday anywho~"

"Hm," was the man's only response.

"Eheh..." Travis could only laugh nervously.

"Moooom... leggo!" Gladys protested again, feeling slightly forgotten.

"Well, your father is right, we should get you settled in, how long will you two be staying?" The mother began, moving for the front door with Gladys in her arms.

"We'll probably head off early tomorrow." Travis said, heading in front and setting his bag down carefully on the coffee table.

"Heh, already on the go, you two. Try not to go too fast on your adventure, you'll miss everything." His father laughed proudly. "How about I make us lunch since we're apparently 'on break'. Been a while since we've eaten together this early."

"That's fine, right Gladys?"

"Mmf."

"Prf," Jam repeated.

"Haha! Perfect! Oh, that reminds me, I have to cook something for the newest members of the family, huh? Well, I never got to test my skills on Pokemon, this'll be great!"

"Oh, dear, did you catch any new Pokemon? You really must let us see!" Their mother beamed with excitement. She looked down to the girl and psychic trapped in her arms. "You too, darling! I want to see what little ones my little ones have befriended~ It's time for judgement~"

Their father glanced back at the scene and gave a relenting sigh.

Through clever sliding and sacrificing Jam, Gladys managed to pull away from the death grip. With less space being taken up in her arms, the mother of two sat down and placed the frazzled Espurr in her lap, hugging it snugly and stroking its fur.

"Right! I made a new friend myself, ehehe!" She announced proudly, ignoring her messed up hair and flushed cheeks as she fished out her only other filled Pokeball. She was about to toss it for effect before realizing there wasn't much room and settling on just tapping the button to call the Kricketot out. "Lyrica, say hi!~"

The bug-type in question could be seen curled up on the coffee table for a second before chirping out a yawn and rolling onto its feet. She gave out a questioning "Krii?" before her vision was suddenly filled with a larger female that reminded her somewhat of her trainer.

"Hmmm..." The mother peered at the Kricketot, who simply tilted her head in response. She reached out and felt one of its antennas, before the tiny bug type wiggled it out of her grip. She gave a reaffirming nod. "Acceptable, yes. As a mother I would rank it a solid B."

"B?" Gladys frowned.

"Its arms!" She said. "Much too short to help with the housework! Yes, it's so cute I could hug it forever, and my intuition tells me it is very strong, but in terms of practicality... hum, hum hum, we'll see when it evolves, yes."

Lyrica didn't really seem to mind the ranking, or care one way or another as she was suddenly picked up by Gladys, who looked at least a bit more offended. "Ignore her, Lyrica, she's just being silly, you're perfect the way you are..."

As Gladys pouted to herself and played with her little bug-type, Travis scratched his head. He noticed after a few seconds the expectant look on his mother's face. "Er, right... well, I sent most of the Pokemon I caught to the Professor for her studies, but the ones I have with me..." He gestured to Ella, who had taken the spot on the couch next to him with her head resting on his side, and then reached for a Pokeball of his own. "Come out, Robin."

It was the Budew's turn to appear, landing on the couch next to Travis before he also was approached by a curious mom. The grass-type was about to speak before she started poking at him. At some point it turned into tickling, but soon enough the mysterious lady seemed satisfied.

"Hmmm. Cute, smells nice too. I'll give it a B as well. Always room for improvement!"

"Thanks, I suppose..." Travis said half-heartedly, gently petting his tired out grass-type. He was reminded of another new addition to his team, however, and decided to fetch it out of his bag. "Oh, there's also this."

"Oh my... is that an Egg?!" For some reason, there were stars in the woman's eyes as she looked the egg over. Luckily, in the safety of its container, she couldn't try feeling it up as she did the rest of the Pokemon in the room. "Where'd you get something like this~? Honey, come look at this egg!"

"S'long as he didn't steal it, it's fine..." Travis heard his father say. At some point, Gladys had taken shelter by his side, watching him cook along with Lyrica.

"I got it as a gift for helping out at a Daycare." He explained. Well, it was more like he was coerced into taking it, but that was besides the point.

"My, Travis... When I said I wanted a cute li'l Pokemon to take care of, I was expecting an already hatched one..."

"Sorry, Mom, but this one's going to stay with me." He gave a sympathetic smile, gently patting the egg's container. "Maybe I can pick one out for you later from the Professor's."

"Humm... tempting, but it's fine~ It was just a joke, dear," she smiled sweetly, before looking aside, "mostly."

"Alright, alright, save the rest of this routine for some other time, lunch is ready." The man in the kitchen called out. "And after you're done eating you're going back and manning the counter for real, _honey_."

"No one here appreciates me..." the mother sulked overdramatically as she stood up and carried Jam to the dining table.

* * *

The man cleared his throat, looking around the front desk of the family owned inn.

30 minutes. He had waited for 30 minutes to check-in but no one had come. The little paper casually placed atop the desk reading "LUNCH BREAK" in pretty handwriting was his only welcome.

" _Well... I can't say this has ever happened before..._ " the man pulled his hood down and scratched his head. He couldn't exactly go to a different inn, considering he already paid for his reservation here, and all his bags...

"Taaan," he turned to look at his companion, the blue, viney grass type having started lounging on one of the seats in the small lobby.

The man smiled, walking over with a soda can and bottle of water from the vending machine and offering the bottle to the Tangrowth.

The Pokemon looked at him pointedly and then grabbed the soda can instead. He decided not to say anything, particularly since the Grass-type had already started drinking.

"Must be a really long lunch break... I'm kinda hungry too..." he whined, picking another seat in the lobby and sitting with a defeated sigh and slouch that probably didn't fit his rather handsome and professional appearance.

Not the best start to his vacation, but he could still make things work. Certainly, it wasn't the worst. He was a chipper sort of fellow, after all!

Still, being cooped up like this in silence was getting to him. "Alright!" Chugging some water he stood back up, startling his Tangrowth. "I'll go for a quick walk around town and see what's changed!"

"Growth?" His Pokemon sat up as well after putting the magazine he was reading aside, but he motioned him to stay seated.

"You can stay here and rest, Tangrowth, since you carried everything here. Watch the bags and don't make a mess, please. I just need some sun for a minute!"

"Gro..."

"It'll be fine. Just a simple walk won't ruin the vacation," he assured the Pokemon. With an optimistic cheer he put his hood back up, hiding his blonde hair and orange eyes, and stepped outside.

Pemolo was one of his favorite towns in the region. He'd been to all of them, and they all had their own charm, but not many had the same natural, sweet feel as the crossroad town of southern Leazon. Certainly, in terms of the number of flowers and trees on the side of the roads, Pemolo would have all the cities beat. With the flower fields to the West and forest to the North, this place was certainly to his tastes.

Speaking of which...

"Man, I'm hungry..." he said absentmindedly towards the flowers before him.

"I don't think there's any laws about eating the flowers, but it may be best if you don't." A woman's voice spoke from behind him. He jumped slightly, quickly standing up from his crouched over position, ready to prepare to defend his honor.

"A-ah, wait now, I wasn't planning on-" he paused, recognizing the woman. "Oh, Professor Spruce, good afternoon, ma'am."

The Professor gave a tilt of her head. Certainly, anyone in town would recognize her, and she had made a few TV appearances, but...

Oh! Those sunny orange eyes, and the small bit of blonde hair visible under the man's hood. "Ah... what a surprise! It's been a while-"

"Shh shh!" The man, despite himself, moved forward to try and cover the Professor's mouth, tugging his hood to hide his face as he peeked around to make sure no one was within earshot.

"My... much more grabby and nervous than I remember you." Spruce gave an amused smile as the younger man blushed and coughed.

"My apologies, ma'am." He continued trying to look as nonchalant as possible. "Erm, just trying not to cause a scene, you see. I'm here on vacation."

"Oooh. Well, now. I'd love to have a chat and catch up, then. That is, if you're allowed to speak on such matters."

He considered it briefly before nodding, "I would be happy to, ma'am. It's great to see you again."

She smiled and began walking to the lab, with him following after. They looked a bit out of place together, and certainly the combination of the local professor walking with a tall man in a very suspicious black and green coat with the hood pulled over his head would draw more attention than lessen it. "Honestly, enough with the "ma'am", it makes me sound too old. It sounds especially weird coming from someone of your position."

"Ah... forgive me, Professor. I didn't mean to be rude."

She chuckled.

...

"Haah... it's great to finally have something to eat, even if it's not much," he said with a pleased sigh once he swallowed the bits of apple. It was also great to get out of that coat. It was a lot warmer than he planned today.

"Are you sure you don't want a real meal?"

"Oh, no, I shouldn't trouble you for more. Just this should be enough until I can check in at the inn."

"Didn't you have breakfast?"

"I overslept this morning and wanted to make it here before lunch," he admitted, reaching down to gently pet a curious Deerling.

He watched the Pokemon running around the enclosed nature area of the lab, a wide open space with a high glass ceiling, grass, several plants and even a pond.

"So, a vacation, hm? From what I've seen and heard, I never figured you the type that even believed in breaks," she joked.

He hung his head in defeat, scratching it with just a hint of embarrassment. "Truth be told, the others convinced me to take a break... I can't really blame them, considering even you would say something like that, Professor. And, well, I suppose I did want to come visit again."

"Hm hm, it's important to take care of your own health, after all," she smiled, sipping a cup of tea.

"Yes," he agreed, giving a weary shake of his head. "I'll admit I have been feeling a bit overwhelmed myself."

"Too much work?"

"No, the work is fine, I don't regret my decisions or what I do. I'm the one who goes looking for trouble, after all," he laughed. "Honestly, it's the spotlight and expectations. Can't seem to shake them off. And then there's my other responsibilities..."

"Ah... well, I suppose it can't be helped. You're one of the strongest trainers in the region, after all."

"Haha... it's a bit strange to hear that so openly."

"Well, if you don't like it, perhaps it's time to retire?"

He frowned for the first time. "No, I don't think that's right. And even if I'm tired, I still enjoy myself," he explained before quickly smiling again, "And besides, that's what this vacation is for. To recover my energy!"

"If you say so."

It was a relaxing chat. He felt better, although there was a nagging feeling he forgot something...

"Professor!" Someone said in a panic, running into the room and causing all the Pokemon within to scatter. The lab assistant seemed out of breath, adjusting her glasses as the Professor stood, looking concerned.

"What's wrong?"

"T-trouble at the town gate...! Some wild Pokemon just suddenly started rampaging...!"

"Oh dear-" before Spruce could even finish considering what to do, her 'guest' had already taken off running. "Oh! Dear..."

Well, he always went looking for trouble, but it seemed like the feeling was mutual...

* * *

"What's with all these Pokemon!?"

"Did something scare them here?!"

"Urgh, we need more officers! Don't let them in town!"

He arrived at the scene, pulling his hood back up. "This is strange... why would all these Pokemon run here?"

The Poison-types weren't much of a concern, he was used to dealing with those, but that didn't explain the number of them. Nidoking and Nidoqueen didn't migrate with their families like this.

His thoughts on the why had to be placed on hold as he reached for a pocket in his coat, before noticing the developing crowd of onlookers standing by him behind the roadblock the police had set up. Agh, the curiosity of humans overwriting common sense.

Some of them had Pokemon. That's good. It'd be easier to manage things with better numbers.

He leaped over the barricade and turned to address the crowd. "If any of you are trainers, come help calm these Pokemon down!" He commanded proudly, drawing everyone's attention to him instead of the Pokemon fighting behind him. His voice carried an impressive amount of weight despite the few words he spoke, before turning around and running into the fray.

"H-hey!" One of the officers said, but the strange man had already taken a Pokeball out and tossed it, releasing a Ferrothorn to join with the line of Pokemon already holding the Poison types back.

After a beat, several other people started jumping over the roadblock and calling out their own Pokemon. Trainers had to defend their homes, after all.

Among the handful of trainers that volunteered their help after following his example were two twins.

"Gladys, come on! Ella and Jam should at least do well against these guys!" Travis said, his Espurr already running forward with a look of confidence.

"Right!" She agreed, standing by his side as Jam moved up to face the horde of angry Poison-types.

Hordes of the Nido Pokemon were in a rampage. The two Espurrs looked to each other and nodded, sticking together. It was the sensible choice considering the strength in numbers.

The Poison-types were attacking basically everything that wasn't a Poison-type themselves. Poison Stings being launched haphazardly whilst brawls were breaking out across the field. Ella launched a Confusion at a Nidorina while Jam followed with one of his own on the same target. As expected, the first one wasn't enough to take it out, but the follow-up quickly sent the Pokemon sprawling on the ground before it could attempt to get back up.

This, however, meant that now there was attention on the two small cat Pokemon. Luckily the other trainers were dealing with a large bulk of the Pokemon, but there were still some Poison-types that considered them enough of a threat (or perhaps a more easily handled threat) that they went for them instead.

Jam made an alert and Ella agreed, jumping together as a Nidorino came at them with a Fury Attack. The others followed by shooting several bouts of Poison Sting at the bunch. Jam countered with a focused use of Confusion, stopping many of the barbs in the air.

However, a few got through, grazing his fur, although it didn't seem it was enough to poison him, luckily. Ella fired her own blast of Psychic power at the group of Nidorino and Nidorina, causing them to disperse.

"Jam, focus on the close one!"

"Ella, cover him!"

They reacted quickly, Ella keeping the poison types at bay with a threatening display of psychic might while Jam focused on the Nidorino that had charged them. He shook off some of the poison stings that some of his partners had hit him with in the line of fire and charged for the feline with his horn extended threateningly while the cat did his best to sidestep it.

They were distracted by a loud thud, the whole group looking over to where the mysterious man and his Ferrothorn had downed one of the Nidokings.

""Confusion!""

The distraction proved useful. The Nidorino had heard the command but didn't spin around in time before the close range blast of psychic energy washed over him and sent him rolling sideways. He got up just barely in time to see another Nidorino come flying towards him, the victim of another surprise attack that had launched him into the same landing zone.

They bonked each other's heads together and both felt that they had never been closer.

"Nice!"

"Stay focused! Ella, to your left!"

She jumped out of the way of a Poison Sting, but another Nidorina charged her with her claws, scratching her multiple times with a Fury Swipes before Jam blasted it away from her.

"Ella, Confusion to Jam's right!"

The cat reacted quickly, rolling back onto her feet and using her psychic attack just passed Jam and at the Nidorina that was about to attack her brother, putting some distance between the two although the poison-type had braced herself against it.

The two felines regrouped. It was exhausting going against multiple Pokemon, they agreed, but it was fun working together.

"NIDOOOO!" A Nidoking roared, stomping its way through the crowd. The Ferrothorn from earlier got in its way and tackled against it with the full force of its body.

"We don't want to mess with your family, so why are you attacking!?" The mysterious man said, wincing as the Poison-type, far larger than the others of its kind in the area, grabbed his Pokemon by its vines and lifted it out of the way, tossing it behind him.

It was making a charge. Not for him, but for the other Pokemon battling against his kids, it looked like.

Oh, great, of course it'd protect its young.

"Watch out!"

Travis went wide-eyed at the beastly King charging right for their group and commanded Ella to fall back while Gladys commanded Jam to use Confusion. The Nidoking shrugged off the weak psychic move even better than he did the Ferrothorn's Iron Head.

The angry Nidoking stomped its foot, the ground below the group shaking as something began to build up underneath them.

"Run!" Travis said, scooping Ella up and getting away from the Earth Power while Gladys did the same, splitting up.

The Nidoking would have kept going if it weren't for a Ferrothorn Bulldozing him over from behind, causing it to roar in anger as it toppled over from the sudden force.

"Felt that one, huh?" The owner of the Grass-Steel type frowned. "If you insist on fighting, deal with me first, I won't let you attack an innocent while I'm still here to stop you!"

The Nidoking seemed happy to oblige that taunt, rampaging with all its massive might to crush the Ferrothorn.

"This thing is strong... what in the world could have caused it to run all the way here?" He considered, trying to remember where Nidoking could even reside in nearby before shaking his head and focusing back on the battle. "Ferrothorn, try and grab him!"

It was easier said than done. He was hoping to get it to calm down on its own but it looked like if he wanted to stop anymore damage he would have to knock it out after all. That'd definitely make convincing it to go home harder in the long run...

Two bursts of Confusion smacked the Nidoking in the back of his head, causing it to turn around and glare at the two Espurrs, safely nestled in the arms of their trainers who stared right back at the Poison-type in defiance.

" _An opening!"_ The man grinned. "Ferrothorn, now! Grab and pin!"

The large Thorn Pod Pokemon wrapped its limbs around the Nidoking's arms from behind and latched on as tightly as it could, its spikes digging in slightly to the Pokemon's tough hide. Then as a cherry on top, its limbs dug into the soil below and stayed there despite the Pokemon's struggles, pinning him to the ground.

"Nidoking, this battle is over." The man approached with a stern expression. "No one here wants to hurt you, but you attacked the town. Please, calm down."

"Kiiiing!" The Nidoking growled.

"Did something invade your home? I understand you may be angry, but rampaging here isn't the right way to do things."

The Nidoking gave a defiant look. The shame of defeat seemed to win over common sense.

The man sighed, looking up to the Ferrothorn. He gave an apologetic smile. The Ferrothorn shook its head. He rose 2 fingers, and the Pokemon shook once more. He scratched his head and held up 4 fingers, and the Grass type nodded.

"Alright then! We'll continue this after you've had a nap! Ferrothorn! Explosion!"

Nidoking went wide-eyed. Everyone within earshot, including the Pokemon on both sides, cleared the area.

" **THOOOOOO-"**

Everything went white and painful.

...

"Sorry about the damages. Really sorry. Send the bill to this address." He bowed respectfully to the Police Officer as he handed him the piece of paper. Behind him, both officers and medics were inspecting the result of the rampage. Pointedly, the biggest draw in of attention was the large crater in the middle of the town gate with an unconscious Nidoking smoking away in the center.

"Normally I'd have to take you in for questioning for getting involved but..." the officer looked at the paper, before going wide-eyed. "Hey, you're-"

The man made shushing motions, pointedly glancing to the crowd of people still lingering around now that the danger had passed.

"R-right. Apologies."

"Everyone else who helped was less involved than I was, so..."

The officer sighed. "Yes, yes, we can just write this up as League Business, then... Have a good day, sir."

With a salute, the man left the Officer. It looked like everyone was okay and the only Pokemon that was considerably hurt were the wild ones and his own. Pretty par for the course.

"Goodness... and here I thought people exaggerate when they said you went over the top with property damage... I mean really, a grass specialist putting a hole in the town..."

"Ah, Professor!" He turned to see her and a much less ragged looking assistant come up to the scene.

"Dare I ask how things went?"

"...Not here. It's probably best to discuss it elsewhere." He admitted.

""Professor Spruce!"" two voices rang out in unison, running towards the group.

"Oh! Travis, Gladys. I didn't realize you were back in town," the Professor smiled with familiarity.

"We're passing through," Gladys explained. "You know this guy? He was pretty cool! I think he took out like 5 of those Nidokings and Nidoqueens in a row!"

"Hum. We're acquainted," she laughed as he cleared his throat.

"Thanks for helping, you two. I see you know the Professor."

"She gave us our Pokemon and Pokedexes," Travis nodded.

"Oh, my. A pokedex? How fancy. I didn't get one myself while I was going on a journey of my own..." He sighed wistfully.

"Knowing you, it would have been damaged in an explosion you threw yourself into."

"I won't argue against you, Professor," he gave a defeated smile, tugging his hood over his face to hide his eyes.

The conversation was cut short by the growling of his stomach. He had the decency to give a more embarrassed smile. "I guess I shouldn't have run through town while I was already hungry. Professor, I'd like to talk to you about what happened here later."

"Yes yes, go relax for a bit before you throw yourself into even more work on your _vacation_." She emphasized, while the rest of the group just looked on in confusion and interest.

"Y-yes, ma'am. Er, Professor." He bowed before heading off.

"...Who was he, anyway?" Gladys tilted her head.

"Seemed like someone important..." Travis mused.

Professor Spruce just shook her head.

...

His thoughts were mostly on the event just before. Something clearly happened in the Nidoking's habitat to send it into a frenzy and scare them all the way into a town. Or someone. He'd have to contact the League for an investigation. Perhaps see if any strange weather or seismic activity could have caused them to leave their homes...

As he stepped through the door into the inn, he went wide-eyed. Not from any epiphanies on his thoughts, but because he finally remembered what he had forgotten back in the lab.

"Ah, welcome." The red-headed woman at the check-in desk smiled obliviously, looking up from the Tangrowth who had stopped eating the meal he had apparently been given to stare at him.

"A-ah... Tangrowth. Erm, sorry, I know I said 5 minutes, but something came up, you see-"

The abandoned Grass-type attacked his trainer while the woman just looked on with a curious smile, wondering if she should step in.

 _Travis- Current Party_

 _Ella, Espurr (F), level 14_

 _Robin, Budew (M), level 11_

 _*Egg Watch: A Pinkish-Purple and Green Egg with a lovely smell. It looks as though this Egg will take a long time yet to hatch._

 _Gladys- Current Party_

 _Jam, Espurr (M), level 13_

 _Lyrica, Kricketot (F), level 8_

 **-End of Chapter 6-**


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